Fire Story
 

Excerpts from first report dated 4/4/97.

FALLBROOK - A mid-morning fire in a well-to-do Bonsall neighborhood heavily damaged a home and left a family and their friends sifting through the ashes Thursday.

A preliminary investigation affixed the blame for the fire, which caused an estimated $600,000 in damage, on a candle left burning in a spare bedroom.

None of the six occupants in the $1.2 million, 5,000-square-foot home was injured in the fire, but a cat belonging to one of the tenants was taken to a veterinarian after being rescued from the blaze.

Capt. Russ Bush of the North County Fire Protection District said one of the tenants renting the home apparently left the candle burning to help air out a spare bedroom after a dog got sick in the room.

Bush said North County fire units responded to a fire call on Via de la Reina in the posh Hiahlea neighborhood in Bonsall's hills at 10:24 a.m.

NCFPD Chief Ron Parkinson, the incident commander at the scene, said fire crews could see a "good black column of smoke rising high in the sky long before arriving" at the scene. Although they arrived in thirteen minutes, Parkinson said approximately one-third of the house was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.

Parkinson said it took 30 minutes for fire crews from Fallbrook, Vista and Deer Springs to get the fire under control.

Bush said one of the home's occupants noticed smoke coming out of a vent and immediately called for help upon finding the fire.

One of the tenants, Terese Johnson, said it seemed as though it took forever for the fire crews to arrive, although she said she noted Bonsall was a rural area and she knew firefighters "responded as quickly as they could." She said it was probably not unusual to be anxious "when you're watching a house burn and you're praying somebody gets there with a big hose any second."

Ironically, Johnson was celebrating her 39th birthday when the blaze broke out.

Johnson said she had been staying at the home since the first of the year with two other people, Karen Boone and David Oates, and Oates' two children.

Another friend, Patricia Ann Hepinstall, was visiting the home at the time of the fire, helping Johnson celebrate.

"We had just finished the cake," Hepinstall said, "and I brought her presents. She never got to wear them."

The home's owner, Albert Dureau, was also at the scene helping to clean up and assess the damage later in the day. He said his insurance would cover the damage, but that the fire was still devastating.

By 4 p.m., Boone, Johnson, Hepinstall assorted neighbors and fire investigators were hiding from the afternoon thunderstorm that would have been appreciated earlier in the day.

Johnson said Boone's cat Molly was rescued by firefighters, who along with Boone administered oxygen to the cat after it succumbed to smoke inhalation.

Hepinstall said the animal ran back into the burning home in confusion, and had to be pulled out.
 

An additional message from David John Oates....

The above article appeared in the local paper and affixes a preliminary cause for the fire. We don't necessarily "buy" this explanation. There were many mysterious circumstances surrounding the fire which lead us to wonder whether the fire was arson in an attempt to silence Reverse Speech (the offices were located in the front of the home and escaped serious fire damage although suffered intense smoke damage). We received two strange phone calls the day before, requesting the residential address. The doors to the room where the fire began were braced shut whereas they were wide opened just five minutes before the blaze was discovered. The arson investigators found the remain of the candle and the glass jar in which it sat fused to the top of a table. It had not fallen over and had not been surrounded with papers. We cannot see how a simple candle left standing could send an entire room into a blazing inferno within only a few minutes. Additionally an unknown car was seen leaving the house just prior to the fire, there was a second fire three days later which was quickly extinguished, and there were two attempts to break-in on the nights following the fire. These attempts were stopped by security guards who we had hired to monitor the premises until we could remove the Reverse Speech records from the debris. The investigation continues.....

Tape Recordings & Reversals of the Fire!

I was in session with a client when the fire broke out and the tape player was going. My secretary rushed into my office shouting, "The house is on fire, the house is on fire." When this is reversed she says almost exactly the same thing, "The house is on fire. Our house is on fire." This is an amasing example of reverse speech, communicating exactly the same message. Obviously she was not lying and her entire being was filled with urgency. She had to communicate her point as quickly and as effectively as possible. Hence the reversal used the same words.

David was in session with a client at the time the fire broke out in the Reverse Speech offices/home. The session was being recorded and the tape player was left running the entire time. The recording begins with David talking to his client, someone runs into the room and shouts, "The house is on fire." Then the tape continues to run. You will hear people running and shouting, the roar of the fire slowly rising, and finally the smoke detector beginning to sound as the smoke slowly rises. (The fire began down at the other end of this 5,000 square foot home.)

There were a lot of suspicious circumstances surrounding our house fire. Three independent arson investigators we had up at the scene all confirmed arson with multiple ignition points and typical chemical burn patterns. Despite this, and witnesses who saw someone walking up to the house carrying two jugs of liquid just prior to the fire, the fire department and police force would not investigate arson. The San Diego DA even forbad all police officers and fire fighters from speaking to us. There was also a second fire at the remains of the house three days later, and two people were seen leaving the scene as smoke rose in the air. We also believe there were people in the house during the fire. They had to have been wearing breathing masks to survive the smoke. What they were doing in the house at the time is anybody's guess, but the tape recorder that was still running captured the voices of one of them calling out to a companion, "Better get out." This occurred ten minutes into the fire when all people were outside and accounted for. the fire department did not arrive for 45 minutes, so it was not a fire fighter calling out. Who was it?? Whose voice is this?? You will have to listen carefully because it is hidden under the noise of the smoke detector.

Here is a WAV file for those wishing to do some analysis.