SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Fire Chief Bill Clayton described to a crowd of firefighters his anguish as he doused water on the burning body of the only firefighter to die during last year's wildfires in southern California.
The fire killed Steven Rucker as he was trying to save a house on Oct. 29 near the town of Wynola. The blaze, called the Cedar fire, killed 14 people, destroyed 2,232 homes and charred more than 280,000 acres, making it the worst fire in California history.
``I hope nobody in this room has to go through what I had to, but you may have to,'' Clayton said Wednesday while speaking at the Firehouse World Exposition & Conference. ``You have to prepare yourself for the worst.''
Clayton, 63, had been battling a fire at Camp Pendleton Marine base in north San Diego County when he was ordered Oct. 25 to lead the charge against another blaze, called the Paradise fire, which eventually claimed two lives, 366 homes and 56,700 acres.
Clayton recalled finding Nancy Morphew, 51, burned to death near her pickup truck. Her house was only 100 feet away, untouched.
``Her husband was standing there and making a sound I had never heard before,'' said Clayton, a division chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. ``It was something like a wounded animal in the forest.''
He also went to Valley View Casino, where about 50 were trapped.
``The first thing I saw was a burning horse running around inside the casino,'' Clayton said. The horse knocked down a man who was sitting at a slot machine. No one died at the casino.
Clayton was later sent to assist John Hawkins, 56, at the Cedar fire. Hawkins, who recently joined the Riverside County Fire Department, said he walked to a curb when he learned the 38-year-old Rucker had died, feeling ``pretty screwed up.'' A colleague urged him to regain his composure.
Hawkins drove about 40 miles to the UCSD Medical Center in San Diego, where Rucker's colleagues were taken for treatment. He tried to be the first to notify Rucker's boss at the Novato Fire Protection District, but a television news crew beat him by 10 minutes.
At the hospital, he spoke for about three hours with two of Rucker's colleagues who escaped with minor injuries. ``We sat there and we cried our eyes out together,'' he said.
Clayton and Hawkins drew a standing ovation at the conference.
``It just opens your eyes to what can happen,'' said Vince Pena, a battalion chief for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. ``They were tested for days and days and days.''
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