The 20th anniversary of a monster wildfire near Banning that killed five federal firefighters — in what may be Riverside County’s most notorious case of arson — will be on Monday.
The “Esperanza Fire” erupted in the predawn hours of Oct. 26, 2006, ignited by now 56-year-old Raymond Lee Oyler near the intersection of Esperanza Avenue and Almond Way amid a Santa Ana windstorm.
Before the blaze was stopped almost a week later in the San Bernardino National Forest, five U.S. Forest Service firefighters were dead, 41,000 acres consumed, 39 homes and other buildings destroyed and a large number of livestock lost.
Riverside County Fire Department and USFS personnel are expected to mark the two-decade anniversary via social media tributes and moments of silence.
Last year, the California State Supreme Court put an end to Oyler’s appeals to have his capital murder convictions overturned, ruling his arguments that alleged trial court errors occurred were invalid and that “the defendant is not entitled to relief on appeal.”
Oyler was convicted in March 2009 of five counts of first-degree murder and more than 30 counts of arson and possession of incendiary devices, along with special circumstance allegations of perpetrating murder by arson and taking multiple lives.
The same four-man, eight-woman jury that found him guilty recommended capital punishment, with which then-Riverside County Superior Court Judge Charles Morgan concurred.
The crew of USFS Engine 57 was decimated by the Esperanza blaze after deploying to protect an outlying property on a hillside. Capt. Mark Allen Loutzenhiser, 43, and firefighters Pablo Cerda, 24, Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, Jason Robert McKay, 27, and Jess Edward McLean, 27, were killed.
At its peak, the wildfire traveled at 30 mph, with flames as high as 70 feet, burning at 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit.
McKay, McLean and Hoover-Najera died within minutes of the fiery tidal wave crashing into them as they scrambled to establish defensive positions on Gorgonio View Road in Twin Pines, where a house with a pool provided a ready source from which to draw water.
Engine 57 was alone, with county and other USFS crews remaining a safe distance from the flame wall, which trial evidence showed gained speed in an uphill “chimney” effect as it blew toward the victims.
Loutzenhiser, who like his men had been gravely burned and suffered from “inhalation of superheated air,” clung to life for several hours after being transported off the hillside. Cerda, whose body was 90% scorched, was kept on life-support for five days, during which he was able to acknowledge the presence of others, according to testimony.
McLean’s remains were in the worst condition, covered in and out with fourth-degree burns, according to the Supreme Court’s citation of trial court testimony.
The man who prosecuted Oyler, now-District Attorney Mike Hestrin, described him at the time as “obsessed with fire and a fascination with starting a fire and watching it burn.”
Testimony showed Oyler had developed a technique of creating so-called “layover” incendiary devices, binding stick and paper matches together with rubber bands, affixing debris to them, then flinging them into brushy places to trigger fires.
Hestrin said Oyler wanted to “see that mountain burn” when he lit the Esperanza blaze.
“You can go back and find the incendiary device left there by Ray Oyler, and it leads to the death of those men — directly,” Hestrin told jurors.
In the aftermath of the fire, there were changes in protocols, with an emphasis on seamless communication between state and federal fire crews during a mutual aid emergency, enhanced planning before initiating a fire attack and improved mapping of fire hazard zones.
Oyler is among nearly 600 condemned inmates in California.