Coroner slams CFS over fatal bushfires

The Country Fire Service (CFS) failed to take adequate measures to minimize the impact of the Eyre Peninsula bush fires that killed nine people, a South Australian coroner has found.

Deputy state coroner Anthony Schapel on Tuesday handed down his findings after a long-running inquiry into the January, 2005 bushfires that burnt about 80,000 hectares of land on the lower Eyre Peninsula and caused more than $100 million in damage.

Mr Schapel was critical of the CFS handling of the fires and said many public warnings were mistimed and not particularly appropriate for the locations at which they were directed.

He said communications between CFS staff in Port Lincoln and the state headquarters in Adelaide were inadequate at the beginning of the fires and not enough pre-emptive steps were taken to battle the blaze including backburning and fire breaks.

"The fact of the matter was that no adequate measures were put in place or attempted which meant that opportunities to alter the outcome were not taken," Mr Schapel said at the Port Lincoln racecourse.

"Because the risks to the public was never properly addressed or appreciated, none of those measures were ever adequately considered.

"For the same reason no adequate warning was given."

Mr Schapel said the CFS had since improved its fire warning system and communication strategies.

The deputy Coroner confirmed the fire was started by sparks coming from a faulty exhaust on a car driven over dry vegetation at Wangary

News: Esperanza Fire - Trial rescheduled to April

Posted: 17 Dec 2007 12:02 PM CST

Trial for Esperanza Fire defendant rescheduled to April
08:22 PM PST on Friday, December 14, 2007
By SONJA BJELLAND
The Press-Enterprise

A Superior Court judge has ordered that the next hearing in one of Riverside County's most significant murder cases be closed to the public.

Raymond Lee Oyler returns to court next month to face murder and arson charges in the deaths of five U.S. Forest Service firefighters during the October 2006 Esperanza Fire. The attorneys involved are not allowed to say what the Jan. 25 hearing is about or why it has been closed.

Judge Jeffrey Prevost said in court that the hearing could "cause prejudice" if it was open to the public.

The defense and prosecution met with Prevost in chambers before a hearing Friday. Prevost also ordered the transcript of that discussion sealed.

At Friday's hearing, Prevost postponed Oyler's jury trial, rescheduling it for April 14.

On Oct. 26, 2006, fire overran the Engine 57 crew of Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, of Idyllwild; Jess McLean, of Beaumont; Jason McKay, of Phelan; Daniel Hoover-Najera, of San Jacinto; and Pablo Cerda, of Fountain Valley. They were trying to protect a vacant octagonal home in Twin Pines from a wildfire.

A federal report later concluded that the crew and the U.S. Forest Service committed six serious violations that compromised firefighter safety during the blaze.

Oyler also faces 23 counts of arson and 17 counts of setting fires with an incendiary device. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody. The district attorney's office is seeking the death penalty.