SoCal Remembers Five Killed In Monsterous Fire

Southern California is remembering that five years ago today, five U.S. Forest Service firefighters perished battling a monster wildfire near Idyllwild set by a serial arsonist who later was convicted and sentenced to death.

On Oct. 26, 2006, the crew of U.S.F.S. Engine 57 suffered ultimately fatal injuries while attempting to deploy around a house on a hillside north of Twin Pines to protect it from the Esperanza wildfire.

The catastrophic blaze consumed roughly 41,000 acres and destroyed 34 homes and other buildings, killed a large amount of livestock and damaged a highway before it was stopped four days later.

Capt. Mark Allen Loutzenhiser, 43, and firefighters Pablo Cerda, 24, Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, Jason Robert McKay, 27, and Jess Edward McLean, 27, were victims of the fire, which was set by former Beaumont mechanic Raymond Lee Oyler.

In March 2009, Oyler, now 40, was convicted of five counts of first- degree murder and numerous counts of arson and possessing incendiary devices, stemming from two dozen other fires he set in the months leading up to the Esperanza blaze.

A four-man, eight-woman jury recommended a death sentence following the penalty phase of the defendant's trial. Judge W. Charles Morgan stood by the recommendation.

According to testimony, the Esperanza fire was lit shortly after 1 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2006, near Esperanza Avenue and Almond Way in Cabazon.

At its peak, the wildfire traveled at 30 miles per hour, with flames as high as 70 feet, burning at 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit.

McKay, McLean and Hoover-Najera died within minutes of the flames crashing into them as they scrambled to set up defensive positions.

Loutzenhiser clung to life for several hours after being transported off the hillside. Cerda was kept on life-support for five days, at which point family members decided to take him off. He had burns over more than 90 percent of his body and his lungs and other organs had been singed.

Forest service officials held a remembrance ceremony Saturday in Garner Valley. During the service, first responders who took part in the attempted rescue of the fallen firemen were recognized with a "Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition'' authored by Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs.

The 31 men and women also received "challenge coins'' from their colleagues, which forest service spokeswoman Valerie Baca described as a "tradition of some significance in wildland fire circles.''