The Esperanza Fire cover art

The Esperanza Fire

Arson, Murder and the Agony of Engine 57

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Esperanza Fire

By: John N. Maclean
Narrated by: Pete Larkin
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

The Esperanza Fire started October 26, 2006, in the San Jacinto Mountains above the Banning Pass near Cabazon, California. It destroyed 41,000 acres and dozens of homes and cost the taxpayers $16 million dollars. But by far the highest costs of the conflagration were the lives of the five-man crew of Engine 57, the first engine crew ever killed fighting a wildland blaze. Fire and superheated gases had erupted in a freak "area ignition," sending flames racing across three-quarters of a mile in mere seconds, engulfing the crew and the house they were defending.

The deadly blaze was quickly determined to be no accident. Within a week, serial arsonist Raymond Lee Oyler was arrested and charged with almost two dozen counts of arson - and five counts of first degree murder. The Esperanza Fire recounts with drama and precision the gripping details of the fire and of Oyler's precedent-shattering trial and its stunning conclusion.

John Maclean spent more than five years researching the Esperanza Fire and covering the trial of Raymond Oyler. The result is a thrilling, moment-to-moment insider's chronicle of that devastating and tragic inferno and the pursuit, capture, and prosecution of the man who intentionally set it.

©2013 John N. Maclean. (P)2013 HighBridge Company
Disaster Relief Environment Law Murder Nature & Ecology State & Local Conservation United States Exciting
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Cyanide Canary cover art
Dannemora cover art
Southern Storm cover art
Flesh Collectors cover art
Ojibwa Warrior cover art
Convenient Suspect cover art
Fire Chief cover art
Freed to Kill cover art
Long Mile Home cover art
The Brass Wall cover art
Shallow Graves cover art
Girl in the Grave and Other True Crime Stories cover art
American Fire cover art
Under the Trestle cover art
Evil Intentions cover art
In Plain Sight cover art

Critic reviews

"Maclean is a fine storyteller...he writes a chiseled prose that does justice to the action." ( The Washington Post)
"Poetic and impeccably reported." ( Wildfire magazine)
"It reads like a taut murder mystery, a whodunit novel you can’t put down." ( The Forestry Source)

What listeners say about The Esperanza Fire

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.