A new book details the tragedy of Oct. 26, 2006 when a man ignited a raging arson wildfire in the San Jacinto Mountains that took the lives of five members of a U.S. Forest Service Crew.

The catastrophic fire of 2006 is painstakingly detailed along with the capture and trial of serial arsonist Raymond Oyler that reads more like a murder mystery novel than a carefully investigative nonfiction book.

The deadly fire and the case against Olyer are detailed in "The Esperanza Fire: Arson, Murder, and the Agony of Engine 57," written by veteran journalist John Maclean.

A Riverside County jury convicted Raymond Lee Oyler of first degree murder for setting the arson fire and he was sentenced to the death penalty.

The men lost in the Esperanza Fire were Daniel Hoover-Najera of San Jacinto, Jason McKay of Apple Valley, Pablo Cerda of Fountain Valley, Jess McLean of Beaumont and fire Captain Mark Loutzenhiser of Idyllwild.

Maclean, who lives in Washington D.C., discussed his book locally on March 8 in Idyllwild on a blizzard-like day at the Rustic Theater and later in Hemet on a sunny Spring day at Cameron Books on March 17.

Maclean's Idyllwild event included a panel of experts from the Esperanza Fire including Forest Service firefighters.

"A blizzard in Southern California in March is not what you expect," Maclean told the packed house of about 100 people in Idyllwild.

The book tells the story from numerous interviews Maclean had over a six-year period with surviving firefighters, prosecutors, investigators, the victim's families and others involved. The author visited the site of the Esperanza fire many times and covered the Oyler trial in Riverside.

"The book was a shared enterprise," Maclean said in Idyllwild. "I did not do this alone. My career has been made on botched fires. Everyone was scared they were going to wreck this investigation."

Oyler has denied setting the Esperanza Fire, but Maclean said he believes he is guilty of the crime based on the substantial evidence against him. Maclean and Oyler have corresponded by mail since Oyler was put on death row at San Quentin Prison. However, Maclean has not interviewed Oyler in person. The Esperanza Fire marked the first time an arsonist was successfully prosecuted for murder for setting a fatal wildland fire.

"I believe the jury was right in the guilty verdict," Maclean said. "(Oyler) denies setting the Esperanza Fire… I don't expect him to confess the Esperanza Fire to me."

In Idyllwild, Maclean's video images on his PowerPoint presentation powerfully brought to life the fight to save the doublewide saved by Engines 51, 54, 56 and March Air Reserve Base Brush 10. Tears ran down the somber faces in the audience who sat in stunned silence. Joy took over the faces in the audience later when Maclean showed a photo of the new Fire Engine 57.

"That's the phoenix rising from the flames," he said of the new 2009 engine.

In Hemet at Cameron Books, Maclean showed the images to a crowd of about 20 people who gathered around his laptop computer in awe of the pictures, said Ron Chalmers, owner of the independent bookstore, who sold about 20 of Maclean's books. The prosecutors for the case against Oyler both attended the Hemet event, Chalmers said.

"He did a great presentation," Chalmers said. "It was one of the better author signings we've ever had at the store.

The Esperanza Fire started in the San Jacinto Mountains above the Banning Pass. It destroyed 34 houses, 20 outbuildings and burned about 41,000 acres. Forest Service Engine 57 tried to defend the Twin Pines neighborhood on a steep ridge face. Flames and superheated gases erupted in what is called an "area ignition," sending out a wall of flames three-quarters of a mile. It swept over the uninhabited house that Engine 57's crew was trying to protect overcoming the firefighters.

"I believe this book to be the best conglomeration of all the stories and it gives us the best truth we will know," said Norm Walker, who was with the U.S. Forest Service in 2006 during the Esperanza Fire. "Since there are no survivors we are not going to know all the answers."

Plans are in the works to turn "The Esperanza Fire," into a big screen film and a deal has been inked with Legendary Pictures for an option to adapt the book, Maclean said. Maclean urged audience members at both events to speak out about family members or friends with arson behaviors. He said arson fires are the hardest to prosecute since the majority of the incriminating evidence usually burns with the fires.

"If you know someone who is setting arson fires and they are near and dear to you turn them in," Maclean said. "The colossal failure is people let behaviors like this go on."

Maclean, 60, a editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune for 30 years, left his journalism career to focus his time on writing his first book "Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire." "Fire on the Mountain" details the deaths of 14 firefighters in Colorado in 1994. "Fire on the Mountain" was featured in two documentaries by Dateline NBC and the History Channel. Maclean later wrote, "Fire and Ashes: On the Front Lines of American Wildfire," and "The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal," about a fire in North Central Washington that killed four firefighters.

Maclean said writing about fires began when his father writer Norman Maclean, author of "A River Runs Through It," started writing a book about the 1949 Man Gulch Fire, but died prior to completing the book. Maclean took on the challenge of finishing his father's book "Young Men and Fire" and it was at this time that he saw how tragic fires change lives forever and his writing path was forever altered.

"A fatal fire doesn't go out when the embers burn," Maclean said. "It goes for generations with families. These things don't go away."

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