Green Motors Fire – The Investigation (Part Two)

It was well after midnight that March day that I finally crawled into bed. Melodie rolled over, as she had hundreds of times before and would hundreds of times after this day, and whispered to me that she was glad I was home safe. I don’t think she was ever 100% behind my desire to “play fireman” but I also think she knew there was no stopping me. She kissed me on the cheek and we talked briefly as I unwound and fell asleep.

Later that morning I stopped by the fire scene on my way to work. There is something about a fire this large that just gets under your skin and it was common for me to want to go back and see what had actually occurred once the smoke had cleared and the morning sun arrived to signal the new day.

I arrived and found 2 or 3 chief officers there already, along with Scotty Baker, an Arson and Bomb Investigator with the California State Fire Marshall’s office. He had driven all through the night from the Sacramento area to be on scene first a.m. and had already begun to gather data and samples. Scotty was an excellent, well-respected investigator with a good ol’ boy, slap you on the back, southern boy attitude that seemed to have a connection with the Bishop Fire Department. I never knew if he had a work assignment that included our jurisdiction or if he just jumped on every chance to come to the Eastern Sierra that he found. Nonetheless, I worked along side of him more than once after this point.

One might think that an Arson Investigator is called only when there is a suspicious fire, but in a situation like this where there is likely to be lots of financial loss followed by much finger pointing, an investigator is always summoned to not only try to determine the point of origin but also to try to determine the cause. Once the investigator has thoroughly made a visual inspection, taken hundreds of photographs, interviewed as many witnesses as possible he or she must then make one of the following determinations. A fire cause can be listed as:

Accidental

Incendiary

Mechanical

Electrical

Natural

While a fire scene might be suspicious, this is not a “cause”. Although there is much science with this effort to put it into a nutshell an investigator looks at burn patterns, char depth, fuel load indicators to “read” the fire. With much experience the investigator can effectively locate the place of origin and then narrow down the actual cause.

As I approached the small group of men through the same door that I had crawled through and hastily retreated through just a few short hours before, I looked on as they discussed various areas of particular interest. I stood quietly for some time as to not disrupt the brain storming session I was observing. I looked down and realized I was exactly 60 feet in and standing near a tow truck that I had knelt next to.

It was then that Dick Moxley, Battalion Chief and baby brother to the Fire Chief Phil Moxley, broke away from the group with Scotty Baker. The two of them began discussing an unusual mark on the concrete floor. The two of them mused about the mark, more than 30 feet in length that just didn’t make sense to them. One of them said, “This just doesn’t make sense, I can’t understand what happened here.” Without thinking I uttered a sentence that would impact me far beyond what I could have comprehended. I butted in “I can tell you exactly what that is because I watched “it” happen.” Scotty turned to me and said, “Tell me more”.

I went onto explain that during fire suppression I was leaning against the front passenger tire of the tow truck. I had been directing a hose stream above me and to my right to the seat of heavy fire. Something caught my eye and I glanced to my left to see a portion of concrete about 6 inches wide catch on fire and then run about 30-35 feet to my left in just a few seconds. It reminded me of how lighter fluid might catch on fire. I recalled that I had turned to Dick Weller who was behind me and tried to ask through my mask and the noise and excitement of the fire if he too had seen what I had seen. He didn’t respond and I went back to my duties. I had actually forgotten about what I had seen the night before until I was there listening to the investigators.

Before I knew it I was scheduled for a deposition with Scott Baker and Bishop Police Detective Bruce Dishion, who would later become police chief. I was interviewed for about 2 hours and every word that I said was documented. Without knowing it, I would become a key eyewitness to one of the largest arson cases in Inyo County history.

TO BE CONTINUED: Green Motors Fire – The Trial (Part Three)