YARNELL, Ariz. - Gusty, hot winds blew an Arizona blaze out of control Sunday in a forest northwest of Phoenix, overtaking and killing 19 members of an elite fire crew in the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least 30 years. Members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were forced to deploy their fire shelters - tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from flames and heat - when they were caught near the central Arizona town of Yarnell, state forestry spokesman Art Morrison told The Associated Press. The fire started Friday and spread to 2,000 acres on Sunday amid triple-digit temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions. Officials ordered the evacuations of 50 homes in Model Creek, Double A Bar Ranch and the Buckhorn subdivision and later Sunday afternoon, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office expanded the order to include more residents in Yarnell, about 85 miles northwest of Phoenix. The blaze, likely caused by lightning, moved at about a half mile per hour up a hill, getting dangerously close to homes. Wendy Carter was one of those evacuated. "You could see it coming closer and closer and every time the wind would shift, it would start up another Part of it burning," said Carter. "I was scared, I was scared for animals and grandkids. I just knew we had to get out of there." Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo also said that 19 firefighters had been killed by the fire. "The entire hot shot crew had been killed by the fire," he said. He said that the firefighters had to deploy the emergency shelters when "something drastic happened." The crew killed in the blaze had worked other wildfires in recent weeks in New Mexico and Arizona. The unit was established in 2002. http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/2...nell-hill-wildfire-grows-to-almost-1000-acres
They are heroes. They weren't there to kill people, like in war. 19 must be close to the record. What's the record?
It's the worst in 80 years. the "record" is 25 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/sma...-the-worst-firefighting-disaster-in-80-years/
I don't want to blame anyone, but it sounds like a supervisor gave the wrong orders and should be blamed.
I only fought fire for a couple of seasons with an ODF crew about twenty years ago, so I guess things could be different now, but fire lines can be confusing places and when conditions change rapidly intel isn't always up to the minute or actionable. I haven't kept up with the story since reading the initial reports, but pinning blame at this point seems awfully premature. Fire-fighting is a dangerous business and sometimes bad things just happen.
first time i went to yarnell it was snowing there was once a swarm of bees so big it practically darkened the sky a buddy of mine there had live rattlesnakes in his bathtub weed was $45 an ounce my friends aunt had a business tattooing makeup onto women there was a diner and a pizza shop so many scorpions at night you couldnt take a step without squishing one rip
