A wildfire is an uncontainable fire that frequently occurs in a wildland region though it can blow out into residential and agricultural areas. The eruption of these fires mostly goes unnoticed until when it starts spreading on bushes and trees. The rates at which these wildfires cause destruction take only a few minutes as they can burn down huge acres of land with an estimated speed of 19 miles per hour, which translates to 23 kph. In the USA, on an annual basis, more than 100, 0000 wildfires occur leading to the loss of vegetation on millions of acres of land. According to Mell et al., (2010), the occurrence of a wildfire requires three conditions referred to as the fire triangle for it to occur; i.e. fuel, oxygen, and a heat source. Fuel, in this case, includes bushes, grass, trees, or houses. The greater an area has a fuel load, the more intense the fire will burn and spread. The heat sources can emerge from campfires, burning cigarettes, and even the sun together with hot winds. As per Mell et al. (2010), four out of five fires are caused by human activities. One such example of wildfire is the Esperanza fire. On October 26th, 2006 at around 1:10 am, a fire glimmer was reported near some old tires on a secluded hillside at the west of Cabazon, California in the County of Riverside. The Santa Ana winds started pushing the fire flames in the direction of Highway 243 spreading to the Santa Jacinto Mountain Communities. Santa Ana winds originate from the inland and blow towards Northern Baja and Southern California. These winds are parched and downward-sloping in nature. They originate from the Great Basins where high-pressure air masses are found. One major characteristic of these winds is that they are known for spreading wildfires; as a result, they have been named “the devil's winds.” They can reach maximum speeds of 40 miles an hour (Raphael, 2003). The forest fire continued to spread through the early morning hours due to the high-velocity Santa Ana Winds, chaparral fuels, steep slopes of the Cabazon terrain, and dry annual grass. Within two hours, the fire had burnt down more than 500 acres of land. By October 29th, it had consumed over 61 square kilometers of land, and its containment levels had reached 85%. By 30th October 2006, the fire was entirely under control. The damages that were incurred as a result of the Esperanza Fire of 2006 amounted to more than $ 9 million. More than 40,000 acres of land were burnt down, 20 outstanding buildings; State Route 243’s pavement, and 32 homes were reduced to ashes. Following these destructions, the Esperanza Fire was labeled as the worse wildfire since 1994 (Team, 2006). Another catastrophic event that followed the fire was the death of five firefighters. They were overwhelmed by the fire as they were trying to protect a house from being consumed by the flames. The winds changed the shift of the fire and blew it towards them. Two of the firefighters died close to the fire engine. The other firefighter’s body was located on the western side of the “Octagon House” which it is believed that they were trying to protect. The remaining two were able to survive the fire and were taken to the hospital; however, they succumbed to their injuries. The death of these five fighters saddened their counterparts and the entire nation in general. So as to remember the five firefighters from Engine 57, a baseball tournament is held each year, State Route 243 has been renamed as Esperanza Firefighters Memorial Highway in 2013, and a Memorial bench is built in their honor at the Beaumont’s. Following the deaths of the five firefighters, an investigation was conducted to determine the cause of their death and the fire as per the Cooperative Fire Protection Agreement. The agreement was signed on January 1st, 2002 between the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), US Forest Services (USFS, Bureau of Land Management (BLM and the National Park Services (NPS). The investigation came to the conclusion that in the event of an accident about personnel or fire equipment of any supporting agency (USFS), the protecting agency (CALFIRE) should notify USFS of the accident. An investigation should follow the notification should be launched to determine the cause (Team, 2006). The final report indicated that the deaths of the firefighters were a result of deadly errors, irregular fire behavior, and ill-advised decisions to protect houses that were right in the path of the wildfire that was moving at an alarming speed. According to Johns and Counsel (2009), the firefighters were following commands from their engine supervisors and command officers who requested them to go and protect the homes that were ahead of the fire. The supervisors underestimated the risk they were subjecting the firefighters to. The side of firefighters had no knowledge of the complexity and the quickness of the fire conditions they were bound to confront. A $600,000 reward was made available for anyone who would bring forward evidence linking anyone to the Esperanza Fire. A Beaumont mechanic, Raymond Oyler was arrested by a homicide squad from Riverside County for instigating two wildfires during the summer of October 2006. DNA analysis linked him to the cigarette butts that were found at two other wildfire locations. On that fate full day of October 26, 2006, at around 1:00 am, Raymond Oyler used a mixture of five matchsticks and cigarettes to light the fire in Cabazon at the base of San Jacinto Mountains. At the same time, the Santa Ana winds were blowing with estimated an estimated speed of 40 miles an hour. As a result, five firefighters lost their lives as they were trying to put it out. The judge who convicted Oyler was quoted stating that Oyler lit the fire, despite being aware that people would put their lives at risk in an attempt to protect property as well as fellow humans. The death penalty was handed to Oyler at the San Quentin penitentiary where he was convicted of first-degree murder including twenty arson counts and seventeen counts of irresponsibly using a combustible device (Deshpande, 2009). According to Klinoff (2013), wildfires have harmful effects on plants, animals, and human beings. For the animals, their habitats, as well as food sources, are destroyed. Similarly, wildfires affect human beings when they spread into their settlement areas, destroying property and killing them. In the case of the Esperanza Fire, it took away the lives of five firefighters who were trying to sustain it. Oldham (2016), states that millions of dollars in terms of property were destroyed. Even presently, millions of dollars are still being spent on repairing the damages that were left by the fire. These incidences of wildfires can be avoided given that human beings are the principal cause of wildfires. Therefore, the government needs to implement programs geared towards educating the public about wildfires including their cause and actions supposed to be taken to avoid such incidences.
References
Deshpande, N. (2009). Pyro-terrorism: Recent cases and the potential for proliferation. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 32(1), 36-44.
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Johns, M. A. & Counsel, S. L. (2009). Critical Thinking: Plugging (or moving) a hole in Swiss cheese. The Tenth Wildland Fire Safety Summit, International Association of Wildland Fire in cooperation with the NWCG Safety & Health Working Team. Retrieved from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/nifc/critical_thinking2009.pdf.
Klinoff, R. (2013). Introduction to Fire Protection and Emergency Services. Massachusetts: Jones&Bartlett Publishers
Mell, W. E., Manzello, S. L., Maranghides, A., Butry, D. & Rehm, R. G. (2010). The wildland-urban interface fire problems-current approaches and research needs. International Journal of Wild land Fire, 19(2), 238-251.
Oldham, C. H. (2016). Wildfire Liability and the Federal Government: A Double-Edged Sword. Arizona State law Journal, 48 (1). Retrieved from http://arizonastatelawjournal.org/wildfire-liability-and-the-federal-government-a-double-edged-sword/.
Raphael, M. N. The Santa Ana winds of California. Earth Interactions, 7(8), 1-13.
Team, E. I. (2006). Esperanza Fire Accident Investigation Report, Riverside County, California. Available as of 7(27), 10. Retrieved from http://www.fire.ca.gov/fire_protection/downloads/esperanza_00_complete_final_draft_05_01_2007.pdf.
