FBI Transcripts Have Koresh, Aides Discussing Fuel, Fire at Compound

SAN ANTONIO —  In the hours leading up to a deadly blaze at the Branch Davidian compound, eavesdropping FBI agents taped David Koresh and his disciples discussing fuel and fire, according to transcripts introduced Monday.

Four agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were killed as agents stormed the compound near Waco on Feb. 28, 1993. Six Davidians also are believed to have died.

The botched raid led to a 51-day standoff, which ended with the April 19 fire. Koresh and 78 followers died in the blaze; 18 cult members had been shot. Prosecutors contend the fire was set in a mass suicide pact.

About 6 a.m. on April 19, FBI agent Byron Sage began warning Davidians to surrender and telling them that tear gas was being fired into the compound.

The transcript’s first reference to fire was an unidentified man asking between 6:05 a.m. and 6:10 a.m., “Got any fuel?”

About 6:19 a.m., according to the transcript, an unidentified man’s sentence ended with the phrase “ . . . start the fire?”

According to the transcript, voices belonging to Koresh and his top assistant, Steven Schneider, discussed Coleman heating fuel at about 9:20 a.m.

At 11:40 a.m., an unidentified voice was quoted as saying “I want a fire around the back.”

The transcript ends with someone saying, “Let’s keep that fire going. . . . “

The listening device went dead at 11:56 a.m. because a tank ran over it, FBI agent Matthew Gravelle testified Monday. The fire erupted about noon after armored vehicles battered the compound and tear gas was launched inside.

Jurors in the federal murder trial of 11 Branch Davidians were to hear excerpts today from the conversations described in the transcripts. FBI agents made the tapes with electronic bugging devices.