2008 Old Fire: Guilty Verdict For Arsonist On Five Counts Of Murder

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

2008 Old Fire: Guilty Verdict For Arsonist On Five Counts Of Murder

Arsonist Guilty of Murder in October 2003 Old Fire Heart-Attack Deaths

Arsonist Rickie Fowler in a San Bernardino courtroom.

Rickie Fowler was convicted of murder in the deaths of five men who suffered fatal heart attacks as they rushed to evacuate

A jury has found a California man guilty of murdering five people who had fatal heart attacks after he deliberately started a blaze that grew into the 91,000-acre Old fire in 2003.

Jurors in San Bernardino on Wednesday found 30-year-old Rickie Fowler guilty of setting the fire in the foothills above San Bernardino. The fire burned for nine days and destroyed 1,000 buildings.

Prosecutors charged Fowler with the murders of five men who died from heart attacks after their homes burned. The men suffered the heart attacks as they rushed to evacuate the area.

He also was convicted on two arson counts.

Fowler fell under suspicion when witnesses reported seeing a passenger in a van tossing burning objects into dry brush. Investigators interviewed Fowler several months after the fire, but did not have enough evidence to file charges until six years after the fire.

At the time charges were filed, Fowler was already in jail serving time for a burglary conviction.

The Old Fire was one of several wildfires that burned in California during October 2003.

During the trial, defense attorneys argued that prosecutors focused on Fowler to the exclusion of other evidence. They cited witness discrepancies regarding the descriptions of the van see at the fire's ignition point.

Prosecutors told the jury Fowler gave them a note in 2008 in which he acknowledged he was present when the fire began and intended to start the fire before a friend started it. During jailhouse interviews, Fowler denied that he threw a road flare into brush.

The van's driver was later shot and killed in an unrelated incident.

Source: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Old-Fire-Murder-Deaths-Fowler-San-Bernardino-166293556.html

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

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Wednesday, August 15, 2012