Forest Service and L.A. County fire officials downsized the fight before the blaze intensified. Fewer water-dropping helicopters and ground crews were requested after progress was made the first day.
By Paul Pringle
8:00 PM PDT, September 26, 2009
U.S. Forest Service officials underestimated the threat posed by the deadly Station fire and scaled back their attack on the blaze the night before it began to rage out of control, records and interviews show.
In response to Times inquiries, officials for the Forest Service and Los Angeles County Fire Department said they probably will change their procedures so that the two agencies immediately stage a joint assault on any fire in the lower Angeles National Forest.
Angeles Forest Fire Chief David Conklin said his staff was confident that the Station fire had been "fairly well contained" on the first day, so it decided that evening to order just three water-dropping helicopters to hit the blaze shortly after dawn on its second day -- down from five on Day One -- and prepared to go into mop-up mode with fewer firefighters on the ground.
The Forest Service realized overnight that three helicopters would not be enough, and brought in two more later in the morning, Conklin said. More engine companies and ground crews were also summoned, but it would prove too late.
"We felt we had sufficient resources," Conklin said. "There's always that lesson. We'll always have that in the back of our minds."
On the second day of the blaze, which started Aug. 26, the county Fire Department lent the Forest Service a heli-tanker, but denied its request for another smaller chopper. Chief Deputy John Tripp, the No. 2 official in the department, said he made that decision because he did not believe the fire was endangering neighborhoods near its suspected ignition point above La Cañada-Flintridge, and because the county must hold on to some helicopters for other emergencies. Helicopters are often key to corralling wildfires early on.
"If there was a threat that morning to the community of La Cañada . . . we would have dispatched more helicopters," Tripp said.
In the future, he said, setting up a joint command with the Forest Service as soon as a fire breaks out -- including possibly at high elevations -- should make it easier for the agencies to muster each other's helicopters, engines and ground crews. Currently, joint commands are established only if a blaze presents an imminent threat to foothill communities.
"We have to be that much more robust in our response," Tripp said. "That's what, on a personal note, I have learned from this."
On the first day, the Forest Service determined that the Station firecould be controlled by the following afternoon, with no buildings lost and with minimal harm to the natural treasures of the San Gabriel Mountains, according to documents and officials.
By nightfall on Day Two, the fire was burning nearly unchecked into the forest, despite low winds. The conflagration would become the largest in the county's recorded history, blackening more than 160,000 acres of chaparral and centuries-old trees, destroying dozens of dwellings and killing two county firefighters, who died when their truck fell off a mountain road.
The county department bolstered the Forest Service's first-day response in the belief that the fire imperiled county territory. The county sent five helicopters -- one a command ship that directs the drops -- five engines and four hand crews, officials said. Once it became clear that the fire was within the Forest Service's jurisdiction, the officials said, the county was required to await requests from the federal agency for help on subsequent days.
A veteran county fire official who took part in the first day's battle said he was disheartened that his department was not brought back at similar strength the next morning.
"There was a real window of opportunity that wasn't recognized or acted on," said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. "Every brush fire starts out small. Either you extinguish the damn thing or it goes a few days and you have a major disaster."
Conklin said that, after the county rejected the request for the second chopper on Day Two, the Forest Service began diverting helicopters from a fire near Morris Dam in the San Gabriels. It also ordered a heli-tanker from the Los Angeles Fire Department, officials said.
City Fire Capt. Steve Ruda said his department had more helicopters available on the second day. "I can't tell you why they weren't needed . . . why they didn't ask for the city birds," he said.
The state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection also had helicopters on hand, but was asked only for a tactical observation plane on the first two days of the Station fire, according to officials.
"They didn't really hit us up for heavy resources until the morning of the third day," said Janet Upton, spokeswoman for the state agency.
As the morning of Day Two unfolded, the fire spread up and down a steep canyon, and ground crews had trouble safely confronting it, officials said. "You just couldn't put people down-slope to fight that fire," Conklin said.
The Forest Service called in several more helicopters as well as heavy air tankers, but the fire already was multiplying in size, he said.
Some residents of the fire zone said they were baffled by the diminished air assault after sunup the second day.
"There were some decisions made that I would love to know," said Adi Ell-Ad, who lost his Big Tujunga Canyon home to the fire. "We really haven't gotten answers. We want to know what happened."
The suspected arson fire broke out at 3:20 p.m. on a Wednesday along Angeles Crest Highway. It took its name from the nearby Angeles Crest Ranger Station.
According to a Forest Service summary of the first day, the fire had been kept to 15 acres and was expected to be controlled by 1 p.m. the next day.
The summary is detailed in a document called an Incident Command System 209. The forms are snapshots of an emergency response and thus can convey inaccurate tallies of equipment and personnel over a longer period of time, especially when more than one agency is involved. The first 209 for the Station fire, for instance, does not include the five county helicopters that officials say were sent on Day One.
The 209 for the morning of the second day says the fire had grown to 40 acres, and threatened two ranger stations, an outdoor school, homes in the Arroyo Seco area and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It also lists as "critical resource needs" more helicopters, engines and ground crews.
But the morning summary still estimated that the blaze would be contained within three days, by Aug. 30, and it noted that the total number of personnel on the line -- from the Forest Service, county and other agencies -- had been reduced to 191 from 231 the day before.
An evening 209 for the second day is more dire. It says that the fire had swelled to 500 acres, that 510 firefighters were at the scene, and that the critical needs included heavy air tankers, in addition to more helicopters, engines and ground crews.
Even so, the document pushed back the expected containment time by just two days -- to Sept. 1.
The fire is still burning.
EManBevHills
What we all sensed was the case from the beginning, unfortunately.
Kudos to the LA Times for ferreting out this unfortunate truth.
RichardK
Fire
This story is a perfect example of why America needs daily, local newspapers. Neither CNN nor the weekly news magazines have the resources or the contacts to dig into an event like this one.
HikeUp
Re: Station fire's strength was miscalculated
Quote:
A veteran county fire official who took part in the first day's battle said he was disheartened that his department was not brought back at similar strength the next morning.
"There was a real window of opportunity that wasn't recognized or acted on," said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. "Every brush fire starts out small. Either you extinguish the damn thing or it goes a few days and you have a major disaster."
Conklin said that, after the county rejected the request for the second chopper on Day Two, the Forest Service began diverting helicopters from a fire near Morris Dam in the San Gabriels. It also ordered a heli-tanker from the Los Angeles Fire Department, officials said.
I'm having a hard time reconciling these comments. The veteran county official was disheartened his department wasn't called back. But Conklin says the county rejected the request for a second helo. What am I missing that would make this make sense?
AlanK
Re: Station fire's strength was miscalculated
The second day effort was obviously downsized, and the County was not called in at the levels of the first day. I don't see any contradiction between that and a request at some point in the day for a helicopter. We are obviously missing some important details, though.
HikeUp wrote:
Quote:
A veteran county fire official who took part in the first day's battle said he was disheartened that his department was not brought back at similar strength the next morning.
"There was a real window of opportunity that wasn't recognized or acted on," said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. "Every brush fire starts out small. Either you extinguish the damn thing or it goes a few days and you have a major disaster."
Conklin said that, after the county rejected the request for the second chopper on Day Two, the Forest Service began diverting helicopters from a fire near Morris Dam in the San Gabriels. It also ordered a heli-tanker from the Los Angeles Fire Department, officials said.
I'm having a hard time reconciling these comments. The veteran county official was disheartened his department wasn't called back. But Conklin says the county rejected the request for a second helo. What am I missing that would make this make sense?
outwhere
Re: Station fire's strength was miscalculated
HikeUp wrote:
I'm having a hard time reconciling these comments. The veteran county official was disheartened his department wasn't called back. But Conklin says the county rejected the request for a second helo. What am I missing that would make this make sense?
I agree - if I'm reading this article correctly, it seems there are some contradictory statements or miscommunications at minimum between the various agencies that SHOULD be working together, something they clearly are not doing.
And if it's really true that on the second day/morning of the fire, it was only at 40 acres - something REALLY seems wrong.
Ok, and even though they surely had some different circumstances - how in the world was the Morris Dam fire put out with such relative ease and speed, yet the Station fire went wild? Weren't these fires in and around the same day, two at the most?
I'm really starting to think they realized 'city' homes weren't seriously threatened - and they just said 'fvck it' from there - who cares if those mountains burn, they're just mountains afterall. Trees, brush, ahhhhh, they will grow back '
NOW I am REALLY pissed!!
AlanK
Re: Station fire's strength was miscalculated
outwhere wrote:
I'm really starting to think they realized 'city' homes weren't seriously threatened - and they just said 'fvck it' from there - who cares if those mountains burn, they're just mountains afterall. Trees, brush, ahhhhh, they will grow back
I think that anyone who has worked with wildfires knows that any sizable fire in an area as dry as ours, with temperatures as high as those that prevailed at the end of August, and as close to foothill cities as this one was from the get-go, is a serious threat to large numbers of homes and businesses. Mistakes were obviously made, but I don't think that they just let it burn.
Station fire victims call for U.S. probe into Forest Service's response
Residents are critical of the agency's decision to scale back an attack on the blaze on the night before it began to burn out of control. Two firefighters were killed in the wildfire.
By Paul Pringle
September 29, 2009
Big Tujunga Canyon residents and others reeling from the Station fire called Monday for a federal investigation into what they termed a poor initial response to the deadly blaze by the U.S. Forest Service .
"It was beyond irresponsibility, beyond neglect," said Cindy Marie Pain, who lost her Big Tujunga Canyon home to the fire, which broke out in the Angeles National Forest on Aug. 26.
Pain and other residents said they were outraged by a Times article Sunday that reported the Forest Service had underestimated the danger posed by the fire and scaled back an attack on the flames the night before the blaze began to rage out of control.
"When it's small, that's when you jump on it," said Bronwen Aker, a Vogel Flats resident who set up a website, www.angelesrising.org, for fire victims.
Her home was spared, but those of many of her neighbors were destroyed.
"A lot of residents are incredibly embittered about the way it was handled," Aker said.
Bob Kerstein, who lost a cabin and a house on gold-mining property that his family owns in the forest, said Congress should investigate the Forest Service's tactics.
"It's crazy what happened here," he said. "There are a lot of heroes in this -- the firefighters who were on the line. But the people who should be held accountable are the people who made the decision not to put the fire out in the 48 hours after it started."
Leo Grillo, an actor who runs an animal sanctuary that was threatened by the blaze, said any investigation should also examine the lack of a more aggressive air assault later in the fire, especially when it appeared to have flagged on Day Five.
"They had the golden opportunity to put it out and they didn't," he said.
The Times reported that the Forest Service had been confident that the fire was nearly contained on the first day, and the agency decided that evening to order just three water-dropping helicopters to hit the blaze shortly after dawn on its second day -- down from five on Day One, documents and interviews show.
The Forest Service also prepared to go into mop-up mode with fewer firefighters on the ground, according to records and officials.
Early in the morning on the second day, the Forest Service realized that three helicopters would not be enough and summoned two more later in the morning, Angeles Forest Fire Chief David Conklin said. More engine companies and ground crews were also deployed, but it would prove too late.
On Day Two, the Los Angeles County Fire Department lent the Forest Service a heli-tanker but denied a request for another smaller chopper -- an action that residents say should be reviewed. Chief Deputy John Tripp, the No. 2 official in the county department, said he withheld the second aircraft because he did not believe the fire was endangering neighborhoods near its suspected ignition point above La Cañada Flintridge, and because the county must hold on to some helicopters for other emergencies.
The Station fire would become the largest in the county's recorded history, blackening more than 160,000 acres of the forest, destroying dozens of dwellings and killing two county firefighters who died when their truck fell off a mountain road.
Conklin and Tripp told The Times they probably will change their procedures so that the two agencies immediately stage a joint assault on any fire in the lower Angeles.
Several foothill residents have expressed suspicions that the Forest Service let the fire burn early on as a way to clear dry brush, and that the decision not to bring in more aircraft and firefighters for the second morning was based on cost concerns.
Forest Service officials have said both notions are false.
On Monday night, residents packed a Tujunga meeting hall to ask fire officials if more could have been done to save homes. The gathering became contentious at times.
Tripp said the county did the best it could without putting firefighters' lives in jeopardy.
"If anybody thinks we take this lightly, we don't," he said in an emotional voice.
But Rob Driscoll, whose Vogel Flats home burned, was not satisfied.
"We're angry and we need better answers than we've gotten tonight," Driscoll said.
I was there thinking they were going to talk about the area and roads
Heres what I got from it:
Once the fire(a spotfire) went up above the Angeles Crest, there was basically no firefight until MtGleason...as in nada,zilch,zero.
The low point(as the fire approaced the SG wilderness) was when they had to seriously consider the entire forest was going to burn and plan to defend along Hwy15.
I had written a lengthy post but got caught by this forums timeout period It was a tough,somewhat emotional meeting. The article mentions a lack of answers, well, there are no answers that they want to give other than blame something or someone else or state false info.
In case anyone else was there, I asked them who from the forest service was in on the team to fight the fire, and the answer was the district ranger for the LA river ranger district, given as William Spyrison...well a couple of bulldozers east of MtLukens summit was all that separated the fire from MtGleason and the Big Tujunga area.
RichardK
Computer trick
AW wrote:
I had written a lengthy post but got caught by this forums timeout period
Type your post into Word or Notepad. Then, just copy and paste into the message. No running into the timeout.
Rumpled
As I've stated before, the Morris fire started like one day before. I don't think they wanted remove resources from the Morris fire which they thought had some bad potential.
Well, they called it very wrong.
I was pretty shocked on the news when the Station fire went from like the 40 acres to 8000 in the span of 8 hours or so.
They'll be a lot of finger pointing, someone will get reassigned, someone will get promoted.
But the forest is still burned and houses were lost.
And two firemen died and other people were injured.
AW
there were 3 presenters for a total of more than 1 hour leaving 20 mins for questions from the residents. The first presenter was David Conklin,fire mgmt officer for the ANF re: the early stages of the fire. The second was Chief Deputy John Tripp, LA county fire re: the early stages of the fire. The third was Mike Dietrich, Type 1 incident team commander re:almost the entire fire. Then there was Q&A.
Conklin was mentioning that the fire was burning below the Angeles Crest Hwy(referred to as Angeles Crest canyon) at 15 acres when the part not being handled stopped above a cliff. 5 spot fires from that then were downhill towards the Arroyo Seco and helicopters managed to snuff out 4 of them...alas one of them contoured north and back up the next drainage uphill from them. It also sneaked down to the Arroyo Seco.
When the fire came back up to Angeles Crest they were unable to tackle it uphill of the highway due to the terrain(I suppose unaware of trails in the area). The next part was never mentioned in the presentations, but moreso in the Q&A. The fire analysts had predicted a east movement of the fire(which was also happening). LA
country had positioned along those lines ,eastern LaCanada through Altadena...the command was run out of LaCanda country club and thats where the fire was going to be defended(the exit of the Arroyo Seco river).
One major subject was who was in command, and it was never quite clear. It was stated succiently that the unified command happened at 2pm(not sure if it was Thurs or Fri), anyways no one said they were in command when the fire burnt towards Mt.Lukens...it was like I wasnt in command at that time and thats all I can say....well, it was the unified command(with who knows being part of it) having just taken over.
The thing is the unified command, doesnt know the mountains. I dont mind because they fight fires. Dietrich kept on mentioning local command was key in fighting the fires, but it was obvious, local command=LA county, who they were heavily dependent on. Conklin would later answer me that LA county knows the mountains, which I strenuously disagreed with. I'll note that Tripp said Big Tujunga fires are usually benign.But the bottom line is no one put boots above the original fire like the Morris fire.
The biggest ? was when one of the dozers was somewhere near Grizzly Flats and couldnt see the fire...which is amended to 2 dozers operating along MtLukens fireroad(a very general area), which was still getting quizzical looks...it was the place where the fire at the time was not visible without mentioning what 2 dozers are supposed to do if it was.
And surprisingly, no one on BigT road, even when MtLukens was on fire. Residents mentioned that the fire was absolutely visible and the fire dept came by saying they would be defended soon but to evacuate...but by the time the cavalry arrived it was too late and unsafe for LA county. The main fire had already moved north at about 14mph, cutting off the road and the only option left was to defend before MM 0 at a horse ranch,the slow fire part moving west towards them. A lot of the homes burned were inside the forest, something not really mentioned and how to protect structures when the fire is coming down the canyon+coming down the right side of the screen,+burning now on the left side,+no way up the canyon....
The audience mentioned there were ANF fire vehicles trying to protect the Vogel Flats ANF structures, but to no reply...I didnt mention the nice Big Tujunga dam protection(incl water dropping heli) farther upcanyon personally because it was getting real tense...and because we only know that from video and not the timeline. People were getting unnerved because they were getting answers that would later be disproven..as the audience had the timeline down to a T. They were then told to write down their questions and submit them.
As far as the tough&emotional part, I think thats what the news was there for, but they didnt get what they perhaps wanted in drama. People spoke passionately, but respectfully of losing their home&no notice before leaving in a few mins, or having a home thats about to be landslided,and recalling&correcting the presenters with what happened. After the host(a city government rep?) mentioned hopefully little rain would come this winter, the end of the meeting was close
U.S. Forest Service launches inquiry into Station fire response
The agency scaled back its attack the night before the blaze, the biggest in Los Angeles County history, began to burn out of control.
By Paul Pringle
October 1, 2009
Quantcast
The U.S. Forest Service has launched an internal inquiry into the agency's attack on the deadly Station fire, an operation that was scaled back the night before the blaze began to burn out of control.
"With the significant loss of life, and impacts to the local community, we must determine the effectiveness of our efforts," Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell said in a written statement Wednesday. Tidwell said he would ask other agencies to participate in the review.
But the Forest Service has declined to release detailed information about its response to the suspected arson fire, citing in part an ongoing homicide investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department into the deaths of two firefighters whose truck fell off a mountain road. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the department sent a letter Wednesday to fire officials asking that the material be withheld until detectives review it.
Neither Forest Service officials nor Whitmore would explain how the release of information on the deployment of firefighters and equipment might jeopardize the investigation. The firefighters were killed on the blaze's fifth day.
The Times reported this week that the Forest Service considered the fire nearly contained at the end of the first day, and thus prepared to go into mop-up mode the next morning with fewer ground crews and water-dropping helicopters, according to documents and interviews. After the story appeared, fire victims demanded an investigation.
The blaze, which broke out Aug. 26, destroyed about 90 homes and other buildings and blackened more than 160,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest. It is the largest fire in the county's recorded history.
Big Tujunga Canyon residents, many of whom lost homes to the fire, said they welcomed the Forest Service inquiry, but were skeptical that it would be as rigorous as an independent probe.
"Will we get the truth? I don't know," said Cindy Marie Pain, whose Stonyvale Road house burned down. She said she believed the Forest Service was withholding information on its tactics because "they look bad enough already."
Residents have accused the Los Angeles County Fire Department of not doing enough to keep the flames from the canyon community after the blaze spread from its starting point above La Cañada Flintridge. County officials have said the department did all it could without risking the lives of firefighters.
Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Glendale), whose district borders the Angeles National Forest, said the Forest Service failed to address concerns that he and five other local members of Congress raised more than two years ago about the agency's firefighting capabilities.
In an August 2007 letter, the lawmakers cited reports of a "severe shortage of qualified supervisors" in the forest and complaints that many firefighters had quit because of low pay and management that "has not been responsive."
"We'll look at what the Forest Service investigation reveals and we'll see if a broader investigation needs to be done," Schiff said Wednesday. "It seems to me that this is a situation where you would want maximum transparency."
The Times reported that in the evening of the fire's first day, the Forest Service estimated that the blaze would be controlled by the following afternoon, with no loss of structures and minimal harm to the natural treasures of the San Gabriel Mountains. Overnight, as the 15-acre fire grew, the Forest Service realized its mistake and began to summon more equipment and crews.
On that fateful second day, the county department lent the Forest Service a heli-tanker but denied its request for another smaller chopper, according to documents and interviews.
Chief Deputy John Tripp, the department's No. 2 official, said he made that decision because he did not believe the fire was endangering neighborhoods, and because the county must keep some helicopters for other emergencies.
Julius Goff, severely burned after taking refuge in a hot tub, says he didn't ignore a mandatory evacuation order but instead stayed behind to warn 10 neighbors who did not receive the order to leave.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other authorities held them up as examples of irresponsible behavior. They were the butt of jokes. But one of the two Big Tujunga Canyon residents who jumped into a hot tub to escape the raging Station fire says they are being unfairly judged.
Julius Goff, who suffered serious burns, told The Times that he did not ignore a mandatory evacuation order but instead stayed behind to warn 10 neighbors who did not receive the order to leave. By the time he reached his own house, with plans to get his housemate and get out, the fire had surrounded them.
Trapped, the men ran screaming through 50-to-100-foot flames to what they saw as their best hope: the only pool of water within reach.
Later, Goff watched in tears from a hospital bed as they were repeatedly castigated on TV. Then he learned that everything he owned was lost in the fire.
"I'm not some idiot who ignores the evacuation order," Goff said Sunday as he surveyed the piles of debris and ash, which are all that remain of the two-story house. "I got a 10-year-old son. I don't want to die."
Goff's account of trying to step into the void when authorities failed to reach all of his neighbors comes amid other questions about how the fire was fought in the Angeles National Forest. Reinforcements from Los Angeles County were scaled back early in the battle, and federal officials now say they are investigating the actions that allowed the blaze to rage out of control. The fire, which began Aug. 23 above La Cañada Flintridge, became the largest in recorded county history and killed two county firefighters when their truck plunged off a mountain road.
Goff, a 50-year-old single father who lives on Social Security, moved into the canyon community of Vogel Flats seven years ago. An elderly resident offered them a free room in his house on Stonyvale Road in exchange for help maintaining the place.
Goff said that when firefighters from Orange County arrived in Vogel Flats the morning of Aug. 26, he was one of two residents asked to show them around as they recorded the number of people in each dwelling and where propane and water tanks were located. Although a voluntary evacuation order was in effect, Goff said fire officials told residents they thought the fire might bypass their community.
"They said don't worry, we are going to put a truck in front of every house," Goff said.
Even so, Goff was concerned about his neighbor, Trevor Pullen, who has been in a wheelchair since a motorcycle accident six years ago. He went to Pullen's house and advised him to leave. When Pullen's caregiver called to say she was stuck at a checkpoint, Pullen met her to escort her into the canyon. Then she and another aide loaded Pullen, his chair and three dogs into two vehicles, which sped off.
"This guy saved my life," Pullen said Sunday.
By this time, it was nearly noon and flames had appeared on a ridge above the strip of cabins and homes. Sheriff's deputies started banging on residents' doors, telling them to get out immediately. When Goff headed down the road to check on other neighbors, he said the deputies tried to stop him.
"I said, 'But there's more people down there, aren't you going to get them?' " Goff said. "They said: 'We're leaving.' "
Members of the Incident Command say they did the best they could without putting the lives of firefighters and deputies at risk. At an emotional meeting with Tujunga residents last week, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Deputy John Tripp said the terrain was too dangerous to make a stand in Big Tujunga Canyon, and officials had no choice but to order crews to pull out.
On Monday, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore emphasized how unpredictable the fire had been.
"Sometimes the evacuation orders were given, and you needed to respond instantly," he said, adding that he was relieved to hear Goff was recovering.
Goff said that when he saw sheriff's deputies and fire crews leave, he made the decision to head deeper into the canyon. He knew his neighbors were still loading their vehicles, unaware that the voluntary evacuation had become urgent. He told them to drop everything and go.
At his house, Goff found the garage and a boat parked in the frontyard already on fire. He kicked open a chicken coop to let the birds out and ran inside the house. Goff's son was safe with his sister, and his landlord was away on a hunting trip. But their new housemate -- a man he knew only by his first name, Peter -- had not evacuated. He found him in tears.
"We've got to get out of here," Goff recalled telling Peter. The fire's heat was melting the window frames. A moose head hanging in the living room burst into flames.
"I'm panicking now," Goff said. "I figure we're dead."
For a minute, he considered emptying out two big meat freezers and hiding inside. Then he remembered the hot tub.
Goff grabbed a pair of jeans, ripped them in half and soaked them with water from a water heater so they would have something wet to put over their faces.
Peter grabbed their landlord's dog, Roxy. Huge flames were racing across the yard as they ran for the tub.
"All I could do was scream, it was so hot," Goff said.
As they scrambled across a footbridge, the slats broke and Peter fell. Goff pulled him back up and the two men jumped into the water. There they lay on their backs, with Roxy on Goff's chest, for about an hour and a half.
When the worst of the flames had passed, the men saw two U.S. Forest Service trucks driving down the road. The local firefighters had come looking for them, Goff said, and they were bringing body bags. The two men stumbled across the yard and were hauled into one of the vehicles, which reversed all the way back to the nearby ranger station.
"After all the other firetrucks pulled out, these guys saved my life," Goff said, tearfully.
A Sheriff's Department helicopter flew through thick smoke to bring them to hospital, authorities said.
When Schwarzenegger addressed a news conference the next day, authorities were battling to persuade residents in a number of areas to heed mandatory evacuation orders. Underlining the risks that holdouts could face, Schwarzenegger said: "People got burned and really badly injured because they did not listen."
Goff was still on a lot of pain medication when he heard what was being said. He wandered into the street and walked up to a police officer, demanding to speak to the governor. The officer gently directed him back to his hospital room.
Asked about Goff's case Monday, Brittany Chord, a Schwarzenegger spokeswoman, said: "The governor's No. 1 priority is the safety of all Californians, and he takes the evacuation orders very seriously in any emergency situation."
Goff has not heard from his housemate, Peter, since the man checked himself out of the hospital. Goff left the hospital about two weeks ago. His legs are still bandaged, and he constantly shifts his weight from foot to foot to lessen the pain. At night, he is plagued by terrifying nightmares.
Some neighbors say Goff is owed an apology.
"This man is a hero," said Bronwyn Aker, who lives up the road.
It was a tough,somewhat emotional meeting. The article mentions a lack of answers, well, there are no answers that they want to give other than blame something or someone else or state false info.