Charges alarm fire crews

Some wildland firefighters are becoming reluctant to take supervisory positions and others are likely to be less aggressive battling fires this year out of fear that they could be held criminally responsible for failure, a new survey suggests.

The survey, just released by the International Association of Wildland Fire, was conducted in response to federal charges filed last month against a former U.S. Forest Service boss in the deadly 2001 Thirtymile fire near Winthrop.

Ellreese Daniels, 46, was charged with four counts of manslaughter in connection with the deaths of his crew members and seven counts of lying to investigators. The charges could bring up to six years in prison.

“I think the public should be concerned about the fact that the federal employees who fight fire are feeling they need to be more conservative about the way they fight fire,” said Bill Gabbert, the association’s executive director.

“Some of them perceive that if they make a mistake, they could go to jail.”

Fewer firefighters will make themselves available for service this year or will accept only lower positions out of fear that they could be criminally charged if things go wrong, according to the professional group’s informal survey. In addition, many respondents indicated that they would be more conservative in the way they fight fires, which could lead to more buildings and land burning.

While 39 percent of those primarily employed as firefighters said the criminal charges will have no effect on how they do their job, the remainder indicated that this year they would retire, take fewer firefighting assignments, or refuse incident commander positions.

The survey was e-mailed to members of the association. It was taken by 3,362 people. Results are available on the group’s Web site.

There is already a local shortage of middle-level wildland fire supervisors, said Ed Lewis, fire chief for Spokane County Fire District 4, based in Deer Park.

Lewis is an incident commander who also works on wildfires outside his district.

“It means that you don’t have the folks supervising on the ground, so you can’t engage the fire safely,” Lewis said.

And since safety comes first, that means the fire isn’t fought on as many fronts as it could be, he explained.

Lewis said he won’t change the way he manages firefighting and handles his duties, but, “it makes all of us in the profession acutely aware that safety needs to be a paramount concern.”

Many of those surveyed added comments to their responses.

“Fire commanders will be less aggressive in attacking fires resulting in larger acres burned and more structures lost,” wrote one.

“This is precedent setting and could wreak havoc on getting anyone to take supervisory or command positions where human life is at risk, for fear of being sued by attorneys who will have months to critique a split-second decision of someone under fire,” wrote another.

Ramifications aren’t being felt in the Panhandle National Forests, said public affairs officer Gail West.

“To my knowledge no one has changed career plans here at the Idaho Panhandle as a direct result of the charges filed in the Thirtymile case,” West said.

“Everybody wants to do the right thing. A large part of it is taking responsibility for the decisions we make,” she said.

Four firefighters were killed in the Thirtymile fire in Okanogan County near Winthrop – Tom Craven, 30; Devin Weaver, 21; Jessica Johnson, 19; and Karen FitzPatrick, 18.

A Forest Service investigation into their deaths found that Daniels, their crew boss, ignored danger signs and let their only escape route be cut off.

Nine other fire commanders were disciplined by the Forest Service because of their actions that day.

The fire is believed to have been started by an unattended campfire. No one has been charged with starting it.

Gabbert is also concerned about a law passed in 2002 by Congress, mandating the Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Inspector General investigate all wildland fire fatalities.

“Their expertise is investigating white-collar crime. They don’t have any expertise in investigating fires,” he said.

The association is recommending that the law be adapted to eliminate its focus on “criminal fault finding,” that federal agencies provide professional liability insurance at no cost for wildland fire supervisors and that internal investigations be conducted in a manner that would allow for the separation of ascertaining fault and determining lessons learned from mistakes.

As for Daniels, the charges related to the fire aren’t his only legal problems.

He was arrested on different charges just hours after he appeared in federal court and was released on his own recognizance. According to the Washington State Patrol, he was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia when the car he was a passenger in was stopped and searched near Moses Lake.

Those charges have to be separated from the fire, Lewis said.

Mistakes were made at the Thirtymile fire, but criminal charges aren’t the right approach, he said.

“I don’t think anybody got up that morning with the intent of hurting someone or seeing them die.”