The order to pull out didn't sit well with state and local firefighters who'd raced in to help the Forest Service. ![]() The remains of a forest burned by the Caldor Fire Firefighting is dangerous but you don't call 9-1-1 when you're a firefighter. That was the best time to do it.īill Whitaker: But yet this Forest Service incident commander was ordering people to stop. Grant Ingram: When I worked for other agencies, we typically fought fires at night. The Forest Service told us conditions were unsafe and it wanted to reassess. "Will be pulling everyone off the line for accountability" reads the dispatch log, a minute-by-minute account of the fire that we obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. At 1:43 a.m.-just hours into the fire-the Forest Service shut down operations for the night. Ingram told us one of the most consequential decisions came in the early hours of August 15, when the fire was still small. And then, they failed to protect the community of Grizzly Flats when they knew it was headed that way. Then they failed to bring in enough equipment and resources to mitigate that fire. They failed to understand where the fire was gonna go. Grant Ingram: The leadership failed to give the team on the ground what they needed to do to put that fire out in a timely manner.īill Whitaker: You flat out say it's a failure of leadership? Forest Service management team bears much of the blame. Ingram investigated the initial spread of the fire for the local fire district. Forest Service and for Cal Fire, California's state agency. A retired fire captain with 35 years experience, Ingram fought fires for the U.S. Grant Ingram also was listening to his scanner. It was like watching a slow-motion disaster. Grant Ingram: I can't believe that it was even happening. But we found many roads in the Eldorado Forest were impassable-blocked by downed trees and deep ruts. when Caldor broke out, fire engines had to backtrack, a costly two- hour delay. Keeping national forests healthy-including maintaining roads-is a big part of the Forest Service's mandate. We went to see what Tyler was talking about. It would take a month of Sundays to fill that hole in or cut a new road. How are you gonna get a tanker down there? Have you seen the washout? It's-it's huge. Well, it's been washed out for three years. As she was listening to her police scanner, Candance Tyler told us her heart sank.Ĭandance Tyler: They're sending them down Caldor Road. We discovered that problems started right away: maps were out of date, firefighters had trouble finding the fire. ![]() Forest Service was in charge, responsible for calling in firefighters and resources. In our opinion, they did nothing to put this fire out.Ĭaldor started as a small plume of smoke about four miles south of Grizzly Flats. I know that's a steep treacherous canyon, but you're still telling me that you don't have the ability and the equipment to put it out? They didn't do nothing. A 40-acre fire, you can't put that out in a canyon? And don't get me wrong, I lived here my whole life. Bill Whitaker: When it first started, did you have confidence that the Forest Service would handle it? Would put it out?Ĭandance Tyler: Absolutely.
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