'In our opinion, they did nothing to put this fire out,' Grizzly Flats, California, resident Candance Tyler told Bill Whitaker about the U.S. Forest Service response.
Grizzly Flats had stood in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California since 1851. Lumber was the economic backbone of the region for decades. But it took only 15 minutes one night last August for nea of the town to be destroyed, engulfed by the Caldor Fire that had roared out of the Eldorado National Forest.
Retired fire captain Grant Ingram was also listening to his scanner. Ingram fought fires for 35 years for BOTH the U.S. Forest Service and for Cal Fire, California's state firefighting agency. Ingram investigated the initial spread of the fire for the local fire district and he told us he believes the U.S. Forest Service management team bears much of the blame.
"But yet this Forest Service incident commander was ordering people to stop," Whitaker said."Turn back, go home." "What in the world's going on here? I mean, like what the hell? We have a fire. You have to suppress the fire. It—it's just that simple," the firefighter said."I think everybody on that hill that night figured that if we didn't get ahead of this thing that night, we were going to be in trouble."
The U.S. Forest Service says its resources were stretched thin. The Dixie Fire, which would become the second-largest in California history, was burning ferociously nearby. But Ingram told 60 Minutes there were regional crews available. And he pointed to the dispatch log that showed 12 extra fire engines being called up as the flames were tearing into Grizzly Flats. But it was too late.
Ogan showed 60 Minutes the Forest Service land next to the camp that had not been cleared. There, everything burned. "It's kind of mind-blowing to see all that devastation there and it gets to the property line of the camp, where the land was managed, and this all survived. It's all green," Whitaker told Ogan."Could this have been replicated around Grizzly Flats?"