Arnaldo Quinones, 34

Died Aug. 30, 2009

Arnaldo Quinones, a 34-year-old firefighter, died Sunday, Aug. 30, in Tujunga Canyon while he was battling the Station fire. Coroner's officials said his body was burned beyond recognition. They did not list his race.

Quinones and Capt. Tedmund Hall, a 47-year-old white man, were near Fire Camp 16 looking for an escape route through the blaze when their truck went over a hill and crashed, authorities said.

Ed Winter, a spokesman for the coroner's office, said both men's deaths were listed as homicides because investigators believe the fire was intentionally set. Their cause of death is listed as "multiple traumatic injuries," Winter said.

The Times added their deaths to the database after being alerted to the omission by a Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide detective.

The following is an excerpt from Times coverage of the men's memorial service: Dodger Stadium memorial honors 2 firefighters

Dodger Stadium has been home, over the years, to iconic moments that have transcended sports — in 1987, when Pope John Paul II said Mass under a 52-foot steel cross erected in the bleachers; in 1966, when the Beatles held the stadium's first concert amid deafening screams; in 1976, when outfielder Rick Monday raced across the grass to snatch an American flag away from protesters trying to light it on fire.

On Saturday, an unlikely chapter was added when the stadium was handed over to the Los Angeles County Fire Department for a memorial to two firefighters killed in a wildfire high in the Angeles National Forest.

Capt. Tedmund "Ted" Hall, 47, of San Bernardino County, and Firefighter Spc. Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones, 34, of Palmdale, died Aug. 30 when their truck fell 800 feet into a ravine.

Though the investigation is unfinished, officials believe Hall and Quinones ordered dozens of people to seek shelter while they fought through flames to search for an escape route from their remote mountain camp.

"There are still acts that go above and beyond duty," Vice President Joe Biden told the audience at the memorial. "Two men tell others to hunker down and race out to find a way out — it is above and beyond the call of duty. That's real courage."

Handing over the reins of Dodger Stadium to the Fire Department — for free, incidentally — made for some unusual touches.

Firefighters hauled in bundles of 50-foot sections of hose, which were fashioned into bunting and hung from the loge level. They also devised their own version of the military's "missing man" flyover formation, sending eight helicopters thundering over the stadium, at least two of which were fresh from water drops in the hills. One of the helicopters spun sharply away from the others.

Anthony Pesce