REMEMBER THE VICTIMS OF THE OLD FIRE (OCTOBER 25, 2003)

            Ten years ago on this date, October 25, 2003, a wildfire started in San Bernardo, California. Unit 1012 will remember those who died in the wildfire caused by an arsonist, Rickie Lee Fowler.

INTERNET SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Fire_%282003%29

Old Fire burning in the San Bernardino Mountains. Looking west from Strawberry Peak. Photo taken on October 26, 2003 by Dave Schumaker.

Location	San Bernardino Mountains
Date(s)	October 25, 2003 17:37 (PDT)
Burned area	91,281 acres (369.40 km2)
Ignition source	Arson
Land use	Mixed, residential and wildlands
Fatalities	6

The Old Fire was a wildfire that started on October 25, 2003 near Old Waterman Canyon Road and California State Route 18 in the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County of southern California.

It was one of over a dozen wildfires burning in Southern California wildlands at the same time. This included the huge Cedar Fire, the second largest fire in California's history after the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889.

Old Fire wildfire

Fanned by the Santa Ana winds, the Old Fire burned 91,281 acres (369.40 km²), destroyed 993 homes and caused 6 deaths. The fire threatened San Bernardino and Highland, as well as the mountain resort communities of Cedar Glen, Crestline, Running Springs and Lake Arrowhead and forcing upwards of 80,000 residents to evacuate their homes. Part of California State University, San Bernardino burned during the fire.

The fire was fully contained by November 2, 2003 with the help of rain and snow. The final cost of the fire was $42 million. The Lake Arrowhead community is now part of a Redevelopment Agency which is controlled by a Board of Supervisors.

Old Fire, Padua, and Grand Prix wildfires

A USFS report on the "true" combined costs of the 2003 Old Fire, Padua, and the Grand Prix wildfires (the Grand Prix Fire merged with the Old Fire and the part of the Grand Prix Fire that crossed into Los Angeles County was known as the "Padua Fire") was nearly $1.3 billion. When cleanup, watershed damages and other costs are considered beyond the expenses for firefighting and property damage, wildfire impacts are much higher. About 750,000 acres (3,000 km²) were blackened across five southern California counties.

On Sunday, October 26, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) captured this image of the Old Fire/Grand Prix fire burning on either side of Interstate 15 near the Cajon Pass in the San Bernardino Mountains, roughly 80 km (50 mi) east of Los Angeles, CA. When this image was acquired, the fire had burned more than 80,000 acres, consumed 450 structures, and caused 2 fatalities. Most of the local communities were evacuated as the fire continued to spread rapidly, fanned by the intense Santa Ana winds.

The image combines ASTER bands 4, 3, and 1 to produce a thermal infrared look at the scene. The bright red-orange ribbon snaking along the northern side of the burn is the actively burning fire front, while the darker crimson patch shows the smoldering burn scar. ASTER is one of five instruments aboard NASA's Terra satellite.

Rickie Lee Fowler (PHOTO SOURCE: http://crimevoice.com/old-fire-arsonist-now-faces-death-penalty-15645/rickie-lee-fowler/)

Causes: arson and accidental ignition

In 2009, Rickie Lee Fowler was charged with igniting the Old Fire. Authorities charged that he was a passenger in a white van seen leaving the area where the fire started, and that Fowler was the person seen throwing a lit flare into brush by the side of the road. The driver of the van, Martin David Valdez, Jr., died of a gunshot wound in 2006. A grand jury indicted Fowler on October 19, 2009, with one count of arson of an inhabited structure, one count of aggravated arson, and five counts of murder, based on five residents in the burn evacuation areas who died of heart attacks. Although a sixth man also died of a heart attack after the fire was set, prosecutors were unable to directly link that death to the stress of the fire. Similarly, although the fire stripped the soil of vegetation and destabilized the slopes, no one was charged in the deaths of fourteen people killed two months later when a mudslide ripped through a camp in Waterman Canyon.

On January 21, 2010, the San Bernardino County prosecutor announced that he would seek the death penalty. Fowler then recanted his confession, saying that he had admitted to the crime only to appease authorities so that he could be transferred to a prison closer to his mother.

In September 2011, Fowler moved to dismiss the indictment because the prosecutors had failed to present exculpatory evidence to the grand jury. In January 2012 he was reportedly discussing a plea bargain, but no plea bargain was reached and the case went to trial.

The trial started July 2012 in San Bernardino. rescheduled from January, Prosecutors charged special circumstances which can bring the death penalty. On August 15, 2012, Fowler was convicted of five counts of murder and two counts of arson. On September 28, 2012, the jury returned a verdict of death. The death verdict was affirmed by the trial judge on January 28, 2013.

On August 7, 2007, local newspapers reported that 25-year-old Jeremiah D. Hope, of Riverside, faced federal charges for starting a blaze that eventually merged with the Old Fire. Authorities said Hope had been evacuated from his Crestline home when he and some friends off-roaded onto dry vegetation in order to get a better view of the Old Fire. The vehicle's catalytic converter reportedly sparked a second fire near Playground Road, which firefighters dubbed the Playground Fire. That fire quickly consumed forest land and later became part of the Old Fire. Hope faced misdemeanor counts of causing the National Forest to burn without a permit and one count of placing a vehicle in a dangerous area.

Victims

The victims identified were Charles Howard Cunningham, 93, of San Bernardino; Ralph Eugene McWilliams, 67, of Cedar Glen; Chad Leo Williams, 70, of Crestline; James William McDermoth, 70, of San Bernardino; and Robert Norman Taylor, 54, of San Bernardino. All five victims died from indirect consequences of the fire, due to heart attacks brought on by physical or emotional strain.

On Sunday, October 26, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) captured this image of the Old Fire/Grand Prix fire burning on either side of Interstate 15 near the Cajon Pass in the San Bernardino Mountains, roughly 80 km (50 mi) east of Los Angeles, CA. When this image was acquired, the fire had burned more than 80,000 acres, consumed 450 structures, and caused 2 fatalities. Most of the local communities were evacuated as the fire continued to spread rapidly, fanned by the intense Santa Ana winds.

The image in simulated natural color shows the how the scene would look from above to a human eye.

INTERNET SOURCE: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/01/death-penalty-forest-fire-arson-families-react.html

Families react to death penalty in forest fire arson case

9:17 PM CST, January 28, 2013

Convicted Old Fire arsonist Rickie Lee Fowler, is all smiles in court during his sentencing hearing Monday in San Bernardino Superior Court. Fowler was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder and two counts of arson in connection with starting the 2003 wildfire. (LaFonzo Carter/Staff Photographer) (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_22464713/rickie-lee-fowler-set-sentencing-today)

The children of a victim of the 2003 Old Fire in San Bernardino County told the judge who sentenced the convicted arsonist to death Monday that the defendant's actions had destroyed their lives.

“It’s still very hard for me to think about the week that turned my world upside down,” said Ashley Taylor, who was 15 when her father, Robert Taylor, died of a heart attack after evacuating during the fire. “I still feel the pain every day."

Rickie Lee Fowler was sentenced to death Monday for setting the blaze at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains in September 2003.

“Rickie Fowler should be put to death," Superior Court Judge Michael A. Smith said inside the San Bernardino courtroom, adding that the evidence of Fowler’s guilt and life of violence were overwhelming.

With his eyes fixed on the judge, Fowler showed no response as the sentence was read in open court. He sat alone in the jury box wearing a forest green jail jumpsuit, clutching a piece of paper.

After the hearings, Fowler’s attorney, Don Jordan, said his client was made a “scapegoat” by the district attorney’s office and law enforcement agencies, which were under immense pressure to solve the arson.

The death sentence will automatically be appealed to the California Supreme Court.

Jordan, in an hour-long statement before the sentencing, said evidence has surfaced indicating that Fowler was at a friend’s house when the Old Fire broke out.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Bullock, who prosecuted the case, said after the sentencing, “The evidence in the case is overwhelming. Thankfully for the victim and the community, there’s finally a conclusion.’’ 

After the hearing, the son of Robert Taylor said the death sentence offered some justice for his family and the thousands who suffered because of the devastating wildfire. “I’m glad he’s going to death row,’’ said Jesse Taylor. “He’s hurt a lot of people over the years. Not just my father."

The prosecutor said Fowler deliberately set the blaze in Waterman Canyon in a fit of rage against his godfather, who had kicked Fowler out of his house at the top of the canyon.

The fire broke out Oct. 25, 2003, at Old Waterman Canyon Road and California State Highway 18. Flames raced through the forest and brush, forcing the evacuation of more than 30 communities and 80,000 people. Six men died of heart attacks, although prosecutors said one could not be directly attributed to stress from the fire.

A few months later, on Christmas Day, a huge debris flow caused by rain on the denuded slopes of the burn area swept through a church camp in Waterman Canyon, killing 14 people. Fowler was not charged in that incident.

Investigators said they questioned Fowler shortly after the fire but did not have enough evidence to arrest him. Another suspect, Martin Valdez, 24, was fatally shot in Muscoy, near San Bernardino, in 2006. At the time of the fire, witnesses reported seeing Fowler and Valdez in a white van throwing a flaming object into Waterman Canyon.

Much of the prosecution's case hinged on comments Fowler made in 2008 in which he acknowledged to investigators that he was attempting to burn down the home of a friend, but denied that he was the one who set the blaze. Fowler told investigators that he went to the back of the van and took out a flare, but that Valdez grabbed the flare and tossed it.

-- Phil Willon in San Bernardino 

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