Ex-fire boss pleads guilty in 4 deaths

SPOKANE — A former fire boss on Tuesday pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the deaths of four firefighters in the 2001 Thirtymile Fire near Winthrop, Okanogan County.

Ellreese Daniels, 47, of Lake Wenatchee, Chelan County, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle to two misdemeanor counts of making false statements to investigators.

In exchange, the government dropped four felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven felony counts of making false statements.

Sentencing was set for July 23 in what is believed to be the first criminal case against a wildland firefighter for the death of comrades on the line.

"Like all plea agreements, there was a recognition of the evidence and the law as it exists," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice. "We feel this is an appropriate disposition of the case."

Daniels' trial was set to begin Monday.

Federal defender Tina Hunt, Daniels' lawyer, said the agreement was fair because Daniels had not committed any crimes and should not face felony charges.

"I don't think the actions Mr. Daniels took on that day were in any way criminal or wrong," Hunt told reporters as Daniels stood next to her outside the federal courthouse.

It was time to close a case that had dragged on for years, she said.

Potential sentence

Daniels, who now works for the U.S. Forest Service in a supply capacity, faced as much as six years in prison for each manslaughter count. Instead, he faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine for each misdemeanor. Hunt plans to ask for no prison time.

An unattended campfire sparked the Thirtymile Fire in the Okanogan National Forest. Initially believed to be a simple mop-up job, the fire exploded, trapping 14 firefighters and two hikers on July 10, 2001.

Daniels, a Forest Service crew boss at the time and an incident commander at the Thirtymile fire, was accused of making decisions "in wanton and reckless disregard for human life" that led to the deaths of four firefighters. Investigators contended he failed to order his crew to a safe area as flames advanced.

Rules broken

Those who died, all from Central Washington, were firefighters Tom Craven, 30; Devin Weaver, 21; Jessica Johnson, 19; and Karen FitzPatrick, 18.

Weaver's mother, Barb Weaver, of Yakima, called the settlement acceptable.

"To me, this is not about revenge, it's about a deterrent from this happening again," she said. "Our hope is that if Ellreese is sentenced and goes to jail, there will be people on the fire line who say, 'We need to pay attention to the rules or we, too, could end up in jail.' "

Investigators found that supervisors broke all 10 of the agency's standard safety rules and ignored numerous signs of danger. No current weather reports were sought. No water was dropped on the blaze for hours, and the chain of command was murky.

Daniels was the only person to face criminal charges.

Concerning the false-statement accusations, he denied that he talked to the crews of two fire engines, although in fact he did, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Daniels also said he told squad boss Craven and the other firefighters who were waiting on a rock scree as the flames advanced to come down to the road, but that they did not do so. In fact, Daniels did not tell them to descend, government lawyers wrote.

"This claim led to a conclusion that those who perished in the fire had disregarded a directive by Daniels," although they had not, according to the news release.