RIVERSIDE -- Jury selection began Monday for the murder trial of a man accused of starting a wildfire that killed five U.S. Forest Service firefighters who were trying to protect a rural home from a towering wall of flame in 2006.

Selecting a panel for the Riverside County Superior Court trial of Raymond Lee Oyler, 38, could take up to two weeks. The trial is expected to stretch well into spring.

Oyler, a former auto mechanic, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of first-degree murder, 17 counts of using an incendiary device and 23 counts of arson.

The five victims were overrun by the fierce Esperanza fire as they defended a home in Twin Pines, a remote and rugged area. The fire destroyed 39 homes and charred more than 67 square miles of land.

A report by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said a combination of fierce winds, sloping terrain and thick vegetation made the fire particularly erratic. Temperatures at the fire's leading edge reaching 1,220 degrees and firefighters confronted 90-foot-tall flames that advanced at 40 mph, the report stated.

Defense attorney Mark McDonald tried to get the trial moved from Riverside County, claiming intense pretrial publicity and "a lynch mob atmosphere" in the community would make it impossible to find an impartial jury.

But Judge W. Charles Morgan rejected the motion in November, saying the passage of time may have cooled emotions.

He began jury selection with a group of 80 prospective jurors. Morgan has said he expects to call four such panels, a total of 320 prospects, before narrowing the field.

"I think the judge will be questioning them pretty thoroughly," McDonald said outside court Monday morning.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Hestrin said he's looking forward to making his case to a jury after more than two years of preparation. He said relatives of the five fallen firefighters also are ready for the trial to begin.

"I've been in touch with them on numerous occasions. We've had several meetings. And, yes, they're ready," Hestrin said.

The prosecution plans to paint Oyler as a serial arsonist who devised a unique method for setting fires using red-tipped wooden matches bundled around a cigarette with rubber bands or duct tape. Using expert witnesses, Hestrin will seek to show the methodology links Oyler to 23 fires.

Defense attorney McDonald will contend that his client was at home with his 7-month-old baby when the Esperanza fire began and had no access to a car because his girlfriend was shopping for baby supplies.

Oyler told investigators he went gambling at the Morongo Indian Casino & Spa later that evening and then stopped at a gas station before stopping briefly to watch the fire from a vantage point near Interstate 10, according to a report that summarizes Oyler's interviews with police.

In pretrial hearings, McDonald has said a former Forest Service arson investigator was also questioned by investigators about a number of fires in the same area and could be the real arsonist in the case. McDonald maintains in court papers that the former investigator "remains a suspect in five of the fires Raymond Oyler is accused of setting."

The judge is expected to make a decision during jury selection about whether McDonald can introduce that information at trial.