Road to Remembrance

Gary Johnson is still haunted by the memory of the day he rushed to a hospital to see his brother, Steven Johnson, who had been mortally injured fighting a forest fire in Decker Canyon.

The younger brother, just 18, was burned beyond recognition in the Riverside County blaze. A recent graduate of Huntington Beach Union High School, the young man died six days later, one of six firefighters killed battling the blaze that erupted Aug. 8, 1959.

Nearly 40 years after that horrific fire, a group of people who survived the disaster have kicked off the first statewide project to recognize fallen wildfire fighters statewide, including Steven Johnson.

“He was dedicated,” said Gary Johnson, 61, of Long Beach. “It’s nice to see that he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves.”

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The California Wildland Firefighters Memorial Committee already succeeded earlier this month, despite some local opposition, in winning approval from the state Legislature to rename Ortega Highway, the portion of state Route 74 between San Juan Capistrano and Lake Elsinore in Riverside County. The winding stretch of road is now California Wildland Firefighters Memorial Highway.

Next, the group hopes to erect a memorial with the names of 100 or more people who have died battling wildfires statewide since the early 1900s. On the list, to be chiseled in granite, would be the names of paid firefighters and volunteers, military personnel and civilians, prison guards and inmates.

The memorial would be near the Killen Truck Trail intersection of the highway, several miles beyond the Orange County line. Organizers of the campaign hope to unveil the monument next year, on the 40th anniversary of the Decker Canyon tragedy.

“All of us in fire services have to stop once in a while and think about how lucky we are to be alive, because every time you go out to a wildfire, you never know what you’re going to meet,” said J.A. Loop, 62, a survivor of the 1959 blaze. “This memorial is for the people who had given everything to protect others.”

With its dry climate, steep terrain and propensity for gusty winds, California is an especially dangerous area for fighting wildfires.

“The topography, among other factors of the Southwest, is especially conducive to dangerous fire conditions,” said Capt. Scott Brown, spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority. Other parts of the United States are prone to fire, he said, “but in California we seem to see the extreme. The memorial underscores just how dangerous this type of firefighting can be.”

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The Decker Canyon blaze was typical in many ways. It began with two young men making an evening beer run. The driver lost control of his pickup truck on a sharp curve and plunged 200 feet down Decker Canyon. The crash, which killed one of the men and left the other critically injured, set off a spark that ignited the vehicle’s gas tank, starting a brush fire.

Firefighters responded quickly to battle the blaze as it moved farther down the hill. But the wind suddenly changed direction, roaring uphill and trapping five men, including Steven Johnson, in a “tornado of fire and ashes that sounded like a train coming at you,” said Joanne Evans, a Riverside County fire spokeswoman, recounting witnesses’ reports.

A sixth firefighter tried to escape the blaze at another location by crawling underneath a fire engine but was consumed by the flames.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, some canyons in the area were named in memory of the fallen firefighters, including Johnson and Andy Brooks, 24, of Santa Ana. Wooden signs carved with their names were placed along the highway, and a plaque was placed in a nearby campground.

But the signs have long since disappeared, and the plaque needs repair--which is what inspired fire survivor Loop and others to form the memorial committee in 1996 and recruit personnel from local fire departments, including the Orange County Fire Authority.

The committee’s path has not been easy, and members have run into a number of bureaucratic snags, including a requirement that they commission environmental impact reports before posting signs along the highway, said John Ferguson, group chairman and survivor of the fire.

“We decided that, since we’d have to go through all the trouble, we may as well expand it to include everyone who was killed fighting wildfires,” he said.

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Also, the idea of changing the name of Ortega Highway did not sit well with several local residents and officials, among them George Scarborough, city manager of San Juan Capistrano.

Scarborough said he wrote to state officials opposing the name change for historical reasons. San Juan Capistrano council members also expressed displeasure and said they will continue calling it Ortega Highway, despite a sign to be posted near Interstate 5 proclaiming it California Wildland Firefighters Memorial Highway.

Ortega Highway “has historical significance,” Mayor Gil Jones said. “It’s named after a soldier who came from San Juan Capistrano and brought Spanish soldiers along what was a trail at that time.”

Others don’t mind the idea of change so much as the fact that the new name is long and hard to remember.

Gail Bradford, 53, of San Juan Capistrano said, “It’s a tongue-twister. People can hardly remember Pacific Coast Highway--they call it PCH. Now we’ll have CWF or something--what is it again?”

Bradford welcomed the recognition for firefighters, though. “That’s a very good idea,” she said. “It’s nice that someone is doing something for these firefighters who have given their lives.”

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Times correspondent Susan Deemer contributed to this report.