Forest Service mismanagement worsened wildfire that destroyed a California town, '60 Minutes' investigation finds

A "super scooper" drops water on the Caldor Fire. (Forest Service)

A months-long "60 Minutes" investigation into the U.S. Forest Service's handling of the Caldor Fire, a 200,000-acre blaze in California that last year destroyed the community of Grizzly Flats, found that the service mismanaged the fire and the Eldorado National Forest lands where the fire began. CBS's Bill Whitaker reported that residents of Grizzly Flats no longer trust the service; Candace Tyler, a resident who lost her home in the fire, said she fears that more of the country's forested communities could burn should the Department of Agriculture agency not do more to manage the health of national forests. 

Just hours after the fire began and when it was still relatively small, the team managing the response to the fire suspended nighttime operations to reassess the situation, which lessened the chances of firefighters being able to contain the flames, Whitaker reported, citing documents obtained from the service and interviews with current and retired firefighters in the area. Fire crews also lost precious time by relying on outdated maps; roads and a critical bridge suffered from lack of maintenance. 

"The leadership failed to give the team on the ground what they needed to put that fire out in a timely manner," retired firefighter Grant Ingram said, adding that night is often the best time to fight fire. 

Grizzly Flats in El Dorado County, Calif.
(Wikipedia map)

The fire spread quickly in part because the Eldorado forest was "so thick with dead trees and dry underbrush," Whitaker reported. Leoni Meadows, a camp on the edge of the fire and not on federal land, was largely spared from damage because staff had previously thinned the trees near the camp and cleared  underbrush. Lloyd Ogan, a retired deputy fire chief who was at the camp, told Whitaker that there was "no management" on the Forest Service lands near the camp that had completely burned.

Nine years ago, the service pledged to clean up and thin 970 acres on the southeast flank of Grizzly Flats after the service's own research found that the town could be completely wiped out by a wildfire. Only a fraction of the work was done by the time the Caldor Fire destroyed the town, Whitaker said. 

In an email, the service said it plans to scale up forest-health projects over the next decade. The would start with communities that are in immediate risk.