and three hundred firefighters were doing battle, but the fire kept skipping over the San Rafael hills, taking houses at random, sparing some. And there in the street she saw her babies' stroller!
Susan Raggio plunged forward more frantically toward the unburned homes, until she was overcome by smoke and fainted. When she was revived, she found herself lying on the front lawn of one of those intact homes, and she walked inside that house while firemen were on the roof soaking it with hoses. She phoned her husband's office and his secretary told her that she had received a call from one of the girls. They'd been evacuated by neighbors and taken to the home of relatives, and other than the twins suffering third-degree burns on their feet when they had to flee barefoot with the triplets in their arms, they were safe.
The house and everything in it was lost.
But the children were safe.
Late that afternoon, while in his West Covina office, Moses Gomez of the California State Fire Marshal's Office heard a report of a major fire in Glendale. He called, offered assistance, and was asked to respond to a command post that had been set up in the 1100 block on North Verdugo Road. Due to rush-hour traffic he didn't arrive until 6:00 p. M., and he identified himself at the police barricade and was waved through. Before getting to the command post, Gomez saw a white Chevrolet Blazer parked on the street. He recognized John Orr standing behind the Blazer removing his coveralls.
Moses Gomez waved to John, offered his help, and was invited to join him.
"My partner's out of town," John explained to Gomez.
Gomez saw a nearby area that was marked by crime-scene tape, and John pointed and said, "That's the area of origin."
But Gomez was not invited to leave the sidewalk and enter that burned-out brushland for a closer look. Since he would not impose on another investigator's crime scene, Gomez asked, "Did you find anything in there?"
"I found a delay device," John told him.
A few minutes later, when they were in the Blazer touring the fire that was still raging all over the foothills, John produced an evidence vial with a disposable lighter inside, and said that the extinguishing cap was jammed open by a clip attachment which allowed the butane to flow. That was the incendiary device used to start the fire, he told Gomez.
As they toured, Gomez offered the resources of the state for the fire investigation. He told John that the next day he could have personnel on the scene to assist, and hopefully to get a lead on the person who'd set the incendiary device.
When they arrived at the mobile command post, John was asked by Battalion Chief Gray to give some kind of statement to the press. The arson investigator told Gray that he didn't have much to report, but when eager reporters spotted him and surged forward sticking a boom mike in his face, John not only gave a statement, but told them everything that he'd told Gomez about the point of origin, the butane lighter with the cap clipped open, all of it. Things that arson investigators never reveal, things that only the arsonist would know about and therefore must be kept secret.
They began to drive some more, where the fires were still sweeping up the hills, burning anything in the way. As an investigator, Gomez kept wondering, Why aren't we interviewing potential witnesses? Why aren't we doing something? What are we doing up here?
Thirty-five minutes later they were back at the command post where Glendale detective Robert Masucci told them he'd been assigned to assist the arson unit in interviewing some possible witnesses who lived in the apartment building across from the fire's area of origin.
They knocked at the door of a woman who'd reported something of great interest. She said that prior to observing the fire, she'd seen a man standing across the street where the brush begins, and that he was about five feet ten inches tall, had dark hair and a mustache, and wore khaki pants. He'd
Susan Raggio plunged forward more frantically toward the unburned homes, until she was overcome by smoke and fainted. When she was revived, she found herself lying on the front lawn of one of those intact homes, and she walked inside that house while firemen were on the roof soaking it with hoses. She phoned her husband's office and his secretary told her that she had received a call from one of the girls. They'd been evacuated by neighbors and taken to the home of relatives, and other than the twins suffering third-degree burns on their feet when they had to flee barefoot with the triplets in their arms, they were safe.
The house and everything in it was lost.
But the children were safe.
Late that afternoon, while in his West Covina office, Moses Gomez of the California State Fire Marshal's Office heard a report of a major fire in Glendale. He called, offered assistance, and was asked to respond to a command post that had been set up in the 1100 block on North Verdugo Road. Due to rush-hour traffic he didn't arrive until 6:00 p. M., and he identified himself at the police barricade and was waved through. Before getting to the command post, Gomez saw a white Chevrolet Blazer parked on the street. He recognized John Orr standing behind the Blazer removing his coveralls.
Moses Gomez waved to John, offered his help, and was invited to join him.
"My partner's out of town," John explained to Gomez.
Gomez saw a nearby area that was marked by crime-scene tape, and John pointed and said, "That's the area of origin."
But Gomez was not invited to leave the sidewalk and enter that burned-out brushland for a closer look. Since he would not impose on another investigator's crime scene, Gomez asked, "Did you find anything in there?"
"I found a delay device," John told him.
A few minutes later, when they were in the Blazer touring the fire that was still raging all over the foothills, John produced an evidence vial with a disposable lighter inside, and said that the extinguishing cap was jammed open by a clip attachment which allowed the butane to flow. That was the incendiary device used to start the fire, he told Gomez.
As they toured, Gomez offered the resources of the state for the fire investigation. He told John that the next day he could have personnel on the scene to assist, and hopefully to get a lead on the person who'd set the incendiary device.
When they arrived at the mobile command post, John was asked by Battalion Chief Gray to give some kind of statement to the press. The arson investigator told Gray that he didn't have much to report, but when eager reporters spotted him and surged forward sticking a boom mike in his face, John not only gave a statement, but told them everything that he'd told Gomez about the point of origin, the butane lighter with the cap clipped open, all of it. Things that arson investigators never reveal, things that only the arsonist would know about and therefore must be kept secret.
They began to drive some more, where the fires were still sweeping up the hills, burning anything in the way. As an investigator, Gomez kept wondering, Why aren't we interviewing potential witnesses? Why aren't we doing something? What are we doing up here?
Thirty-five minutes later they were back at the command post where Glendale detective Robert Masucci told them he'd been assigned to assist the arson unit in interviewing some possible witnesses who lived in the apartment building across from the fire's area of origin.
They knocked at the door of a woman who'd reported something of great interest. She said that prior to observing the fire, she'd seen a man standing across the street where the brush begins, and that he was about five feet ten inches tall, had dark hair and a mustache, and wore khaki pants. He'd
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