Board asked to re-examine wildfire findings
Forest Service chief wants facts, witness statements reviewed
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Associated Press

Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth has asked a wildfire review board to re-examine some evidence surrounding the deaths of four firefighters in July in the Thirty Mile Fire in north central Washington.

The Forest Service's official report, released last week, said the deaths were preventable and cited numerous mistakes made by fire managers and supervisors, including breaking or disregarding all the basic firefighting safety rules and failing to recognize the potential fire danger.

Six people out of a crew of 14 deployed their emergency fire shelters on a rock slope above the Chewuch River Road in the Okanogan National Forest when the fire blew up July 10. Two eventually fled -- one to the river and one to a van -- and the four who remained died from breathing superheated air.

The report said the firefighters who deployed their emergency shelters on the rock slope were told repeatedly beforehand by crew boss Ellreese Daniels to gather on the road.

Crew members who survived deployed their shelters on the road, where it was somewhat cooler.

However, some surviving firefighters have disputed that such an order was given.

Bosworth wrote Wednesday to the review board, asking it to re-examine "the factual report and witness statements" about whether the victims were given orders to move to the road.

"We may never know exactly what happened," he wrote.

"But we owe it to the firefighters and their families to pause for a moment," review the findings and "try to determine what happened during those frantic moments."

Kathy FitzPatrick, the mother of one of the firefighters who died -- Karen FitzPatrick, 18, of Yakima -- told KREM-TV of Spokane she welcomed Bosworth's move. She said she can't imagine her daughter would have disobeyed an order that would have saved her life.

Also killed were Tom Craven, 30, of Ellensburg; and Devin Weaver, 21, and Jessica Johnson, 19, both of Yakima.

Ron DeHart, a Forest Service spokesman in Seattle, did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday night.

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