Wildfire deaths ‘could have been prevented’

YAKIMA — A series of deadly mistakes, nearly all of them violations of basic safety rules, cost the lives of four firefighters in the North Cascades last summer, the U.S. Forest Service said in a report released Wednesday.

"The Thirty-mile fire tragedy could have been prevented," said Jim Furnish, a Forest Service deputy chief who led the nine-person team investigating the fire. "Almost from beginning to end, the fire potential and fire danger were underestimated."

The Thirty-mile fire began as an abandoned campfire July 9, and by midday July 10 had exploded into an inferno that trapped 14 firefighters and two campers in the steep, narrow Chewuch River Canyon in the Okanogan National Forest.

Devin Weaver, 21, Jessica Johnson, 19, and Karen FitzPatrick, 18, all of Yakima, and Tom Craven, 30, of Ellensburg, died in their emergency fire shelters, from breathing superheated air.

Craven’s widow, Evelyn, said the families were dissatisfied with the report. They received a special briefing before the news conference Wednesday, and she said it seemed as if the Forest Service was trying to blame the victims.

Shipyard murder trial moved back to Seattle: A man charged with killing two men and wounding two others at a shipyard where he used to work will stand trial in Seattle rather than Kent after all, a judge has decided. The killings occurred in Seattle, so the trial of Kevin William Cruz should be in the city as well, presiding Superior Court Judge Brian Gain ruled Tuesday. Cruz, 31, of SeaTac, has pleaded innocent to aggravated first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Peter Giles, 27, and Russell James Brisendine, 43, of Lynnwood, on Nov. 13, 1999, at the Northlake Shipyard on Lake Union. Gain overruled Judge Terry Lukens, who said earlier the trial should be conducted at the county’s Regional Justice Center in Kent because of earthquake retrofitting being done at the county courthouse in Seattle.

Audit says city officials misused credit cards: Top city officials inappropriately used city credit cards for more than $2,000 in personal expenses, the state Auditor’s Office says. Mayor Mike Crowley and city council members Kevin Phelps and Bil Moss collectively charged more than $11,000 in expenses last year, the office said in a newly released report. The auditor deemed $2,177 to be "unacceptable" charges, including paying for gas for a personal car, buying items at a department store, charging plane tickets for a family member and buying high-priced business lunches. The city already had been reimbursed the charges, most within a month. The city’s finance department had given credit cards to nine council members and the city manager in April 2000 to pay for city expenses. The officials say they were unfamiliar with the new city program or accidentally grabbed the wrong card in their wallet.

Man arrested in homicide, apparent arson: A 23-year-old Wenatchee man was arrested Wednesday for investigation of murder and arson after another man’s body was found inside a burning townhouse Tuesday night. Armando A. Reed, 23, was arrested at his home and booked into Chelan County Jail for investigation of second-degree murder and first-degree arson. Chelan County Sheriff Mike Brickert said authorities had not yet identified the severely burned body found in the townhouse. Investigators were checking reports that the victim was Reed’s stepfather. Brickert and Chelan County Coroner Gina Fino said the body had several knife wounds. An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.