In article <1r75n1INN97g@clem.handheld.com> jmd@cube.handheld.com (Jim De Arras) writes: >In article <dusek.735489223@shale> dusek@rtsg.mot.com (James P. Dusek) writes: >> ccdarg@dct.ac.uk (Alan Greig) writes: >> >or the cultists...) I think I'll quote the BBC quoting (actually voice >> >interview) one of the two British survivors. He claimed that the fire >> >started when the tanks caused an internal wooden wall/roof to collapse >> >knocking over kerosene lamps and that they had no suicide plan. >>  >> 	If the FBI started the fire, why didn`t people flee the >> burning building? >>  >I don't know, why? > This is the AP story from Fri morning.  As the walls came tumbling down and tear gas filled the air, cult leader David Koresh sprang into action. He left his third-floor bedroom and began looking around the house, making sure women and children were secure and  checking that everyone had their gas masks on properly. Within hours, the     compound became an inferno. Nine Branch Davidians excaped.    This is their story, gleaned from lawyers who spoke with six of them who are jailed on charges that include conspiracy and murder. That day the  six said a portable radio offered the only contact with the outside world     since Koresh's right-hand man, Steve Schneider, ripped out the compounds's  phone line after FBI agents called before dawn Monday saying this was the cults last chance: Come out or prepare to get forced out.     They kept their word. By dawn, tanks were battering the Mount Carmel compound, punching for hours to creat holes for tear gas to enter. The BD meanwhile proceeded with their daily routines. Strapped into gas masks, the women did laundry. Others read Bibles in their rooms. The 17 children, all under 10, remained by their mothers' sides. Still, it was hard to ignore what     was happening around them. Each time a tank rammed the poorly-constructed building it shook violently. Cult members dodges falling gypsum wallboard and doors. Hundreds of gas canisters hurled in from the armored vehicles were filling the air with noxious fumes. The flying canisters were more frightening than the tanks. At least one man was hit in the face. The gas began filling the air, driven by heavy gusts of wind coming through windows and the holes the tanks made. Scattered throughout the house, the cult members made no efforts to gather. Then the FBI sent in its biggest weapon -- a massive armored vehicle headed for a chamber, lined with cinder blocks, where authorities hoped to  find Koresh and Schneider and fire tear gas directly at them.   Here the cult members' story diverges from the government's version. The FBI says cult members set fires in three places. But each of the six cult members, in separate discussions with lawyers, consistently gave versions at odds with the FBI's account. They say the tank flattened a barrel of  propane, spilling its contents. And as the tank thundered through the house, it tipped over lit lanterns, spitting flames that ignited the propane and other flammables. The home of used lumber, plywood, and wallboard tacked  together with tar paper was vulnerable. The building erupted. Nine BD's escaped jumping through windows and dashing through other openings. Others died groping in the blackness.