YAKIMA – Ken Weaver saw the reports and cringed, as sorrow washed over him.
News that four firefighters had died in a wind-driven wildfire in California reopened fresh scars from the death of his 18-year-old son Devin, who perished with three other firefighters in a central Washington forest five years ago when they were trapped on a dusty, dead-end road.
“You go into a state of absolute shock. You just can’t function,” Weaver said. “It still ripples through me years later.”
Southern California authorities are seeking an arsonist they believe is responsible for the firefighters’ deaths on Thursday.
A fifth firefighter suffered severe burns in the blaze – the deadliest wildfire firefighting disaster in the United States since Devin Weaver and three other firefighters died in the Thirtymile fire on July 10, 2001.
In the years since that deadly blaze, family members of the Thirtymile victims have been pushing for changes in what they call the “wild West” culture of the Forest Service, and view the latest deaths as yet another tragic sign of the need for improved safety.
“Accidents happen every day. It is a dangerous job, and that covers accidents happening, but burnovers don’t fall into that category,” Weaver said. “Burnovers fall into the category of when rules are ignored, not just broken, but totally ignored.”
The Forest Service firefighters died in California when the wind blew a wall of flames down on them in the hills near Palm Springs as they tried to protect a home.
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