Was deference to ESA required?
Forest Service Fire Chief Dale Bosworth attempted to absolve the ESA of any responsibility for the firefighters’ deaths. Bosworth claimed that under standard procedure, firefighters are not constrained by the ESA when facing an emergency. Jordan St. John, public affairs officer for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association, agreed firefighters are not required to take ESA considerations into account when human life is at risk. St. John suggested the ESA was not to blame, but rather Forest Service dispatchers had misinterpreted Forest Service procedures. What remains unclear, however, is whether the Forest Service’s standard ESA procedures required deference to ESA factors in a situation like the 30-mile fire, where the blaze had been deemed relatively safe and largely contained. Evidence shows it was deference to the ESA during the relatively safe mop-up phase that allowed the fire to regain its deadly form. At the time the Forest Service was debating the impact of taking water from
