AP PHOTO: A Procession of the Vehicles Carrying Bodies of the Firefighters Who Died in AZ

[Hissyspit]

A procession carrying the bodies of the firefighters who died Sunday fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire heads down Grand Ave. toward the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's office on Monday, July 1, 2013. Nineteen firefighters have died in the Yarnell Hill Fire that has ripped through half of the town and sent residents to Prescott for safety. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Mark Henle)

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/photos/B/bea077e8-87f9-41aa-aae5-b2bc6e8a777c.html

[hlthe2b]

1. Heavens.. how sad is that...

May there be a place of peace awaiting these heroic and selfless people.

[pansypoo53219]

55. we had a fire in milw in the 80's. i think about 17 died, mostly children.

i was waiting for the bus when the funeral hearses were on the way to the cemetery. you'd be in tears if you saw it in AZ.

[Skittles]

2. .

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. ..

[Rebellious Republican]

15. Very nice nadin, thank you.

[VA_Jill]

59. This one

really made me cry.

[malaise]

4. Too sad

Selfless public servants

[Tansy_Gold]

5. Indeed. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

6. So tragic.

.

[sheshe2]

7. So very sad~

[mountain grammy]

8. It;s a dirty, dangerous job and the pay is pathetic.

These firefighter have my undying gratitude and utmost respect.

[oldandhappy]

9. Devastating.

Their families are in my heart.

[myrna minx]

10. .

[KittyWampus]

11. Damn.

[kentuck]

12. Very sad.

[Whisp]

13. ...

[RC]

14. Portable shelters couldn't save 19 firefighters

By FELICIA FONSECA and HANNAH DREIER
Associated Press

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) -- Trapped by a wildfire that exploded tenfold in a matter of hours, a crack team of firefighting "Hotshots" broke out their portable emergency shelters and rushed to climb into the foil-lined, heat-resistant bags before the flames swept over them.

By the time the blaze had passed, 19 men lay dead in the nation's biggest loss of firefighters in a wildfire in 80 years.

The tragedy Sunday evening all but wiped out the 20-member Granite Mountain Hotshots, a unit based at Prescott, authorities said Monday as the last of the bodies were retrieved from the mountain in the town of Yarnell. Only one member survived, and that was because he was moving the unit's truck at the time.

The deaths plunged the two small towns into mourning as the wildfire continued to threaten one of them, Yarnell. Arizona's governor called it "as dark a day as I can remember" and ordered flags flown at half-staff. In a heartbreaking sight, a line of white vans carried the bodies to Phoenix for autopsies.

More at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FIREFIGHTERS_KILLED?SITE=AZCAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-07-01-18-18-33

[Rebellious Republican]

19. We call them shake and bake tents....

for a reason.

[LongTomH]

16. Raise a glass or light a candle to the memory of these brave gentlemen.

[secondvariety]

17. I hope this isn't innappropriate.

Godspeed...

[Rebellious Republican]

18. secondvariety, I am as macho as they come...

I would like to post an intelligent reply, but it is kinda hard to see the keyboard through the tears that you caused. Very poignant!!!Very apropos!!!

Very nice, thank you.

On third edit: I wasn't kidding about the tears!

[niyad]

22. that video must be getting a lot of play today--I started typing "cold mi" and it came up

[Rebellious Republican]

23. NOW that I have had a chance to compose myself....

You don't know how many times I pulled out of my drive in my F150 with my wife looking on in support, yet wondering.
It shows a structural firefighter in the video, but we are all brothers and sisters defending our community.

[lapislzi]

26. It was the first thing I thought of.

If you can get hold of a copy of Norman McLean's "Young Men and Fire," read it. It is a fascinating and horrifying look at what firefighters in the wilderness face.

When the details come out, I wonder how similar conditions were to those that caused the Mann Gulch blowup.

Peace and healing to the families of the fallen.

[Rebellious Republican]

28. I have read it, and the Mann Gulch blowup is taught to this day.

[Hissyspit]

46. Interestingly enough,

despite the fact that I have no connection personally to smokejumpers/wild land firefighters, I have read the book, too.

[truebluegreen]

53. Also check out John McLean's (son of Norman) "Fire On the Mountain"

about the Storm King fire in Colorado in 1994?. The lessons of Mann Gulch are not always remembered.

[niyad]

20. my heart goes out to their loved ones and friends. what a blow to this community to lose such

brave and courageous people.

[JDPriestly]

21. Heroes, every one.

Why isn't NSA doing more to prevent these fires, using its resources to prevent these killer, devastating fires instead of creating a database of our metadata.

Seems to me that preventing these fires would make us more secure than that crazy database.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Cause we are at the cause of them

In many ways, ranging from wild land management to climate change.

[Rebellious Republican]

39. Thanks Nadin,

for understanding the truth!

[Rebellious Republican]

32. JD, please this is not the time or place.

You have little knowledge about what is happening with wildfires out west and why, I could quote volumes about the subject, I am a professional. You are grandstanding in the WRONG FUCKING place. Just go away, you are a very callous POS coming to this post with that BS. You want to start a FLAME WAR then start with me. Yes I am alerting your post to the mods, asshole!

[Rebellious Republican]

40. You win!

Guess it does not matter that this was off topic or insensitive to a memorial post about 19 fallen firefighters and their families. I will probably get tombstoned for this, but wtf do I care at this point.

At Mon Jul 1, 2013, 08:23 PM you sent an alert on the following post:

Heroes, every one.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3144176

REASON FOR ALERT:

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate. (See <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=aboutus#communitystandards" target="_blank">Community Standards</a>.)

YOUR COMMENTS:

So how long does it take?

JURY RESULTS

A randomly-selected Jury of DU members completed their review of this alert at Mon Jul 1, 2013, 09:06 PM, and voted 1-5 to LEAVE IT ALONE.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: How long does what take?
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to HIDE IT and said: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: A creative post

Thank you.

[Rebellious Republican]

44. Must be BOTS, because anything human has a heart!

To my fallen brothers,

[Rebellious Republican]

42. So I guess you have gone to bed for the night.

[Rebellious Republican]

41. WTF does the NSA have to do with it?

[JDPriestly]

47. We are spending millions on funding NSA wild goose chases

when we should be dealing with the infrastructure, social, growth, environmental and safety issues that lead to these fires.

I live in Los Angeles. I do understand these fires.

In my view these fires are a national security issue of first importance. They seem to get worse each year.

That is why I posted this. I think we should spend our money on the professionals that fight these fires -- on their equipment, on their safety, rather than some of the other boondoggles that are sold to us as vital to our national security.

[OnlinePoker]

50. "They seem to get worse each year"

This year is the lowest number of fires in 10 years and the second lowest acreage burned in 10 years.

http://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/nfn.htm

[truebluegreen]

54. The year isn't over,

even though we are getting a slower start so far.

I've been driving through / camping / etc in a lot of Colorado and New Mexico in the last few years and believe me, they are tinderboxes ready to go up...and it is only the beginning of July.

If big fires start in those areas now they will probably burn until the snow flies.

[JDPriestly]

56. Thanks.

I will tell you that in LA, we clear our lots and watch for fires.

Maybe the reduction in the numbers of fires is due to the fact that so much of the forest near our homes has already burned. I live in the city, not in a fire-prone area.

[nadinbrzezinski]

60. Hmm fail, not according to Cal Fire

They might have a clue after all

[OnlinePoker]

61. Do you have a link?

[nadinbrzezinski]

62. Yup

http://calfire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/newsreleases/2013/DryWinter2013.pdf

You can also follow the Cal Fire Report on twitter...

I also cover these suckers for a local paper, and I have been told this by Fire Officials as well.

Off the record, it is the same in Baja California Norte, where response is up.

[OnlinePoker]

63. I went on the Cal Fire Site

Currently there is only one active fire in the whole state which is 95% contained. California has had 62 fires this year with a total acreage burned of 89809 acres. Of the 62 fires, 2 were reported as 60 small fires due to light strikes (0 acres burned) and 28 small fires from one tree to 4 acres between 10 and 14 June. Is it hot and dry? You bet it is, but to date there haven't been an overabundance of fires as a result. The season is still early, though, with people making their way into the wilds for summer vacation.

[Rebellious Republican]

43. When you get a chance to slither around this way, I will be waiting!

Admin decided that this is a good thing, I will look forward to your heartfelt posts where ever they may show up.

RR

[niyad]

24. this week also marks the 19th anniversary of the storm king mountain fire, where 14 firefighters

lost their lives:



Those who died:
Prineville Hotshots: Kathi Beck, Tamera Bickett, Scott Blecha, Levi Brinkley, Douglas Dunbar, Terri Hagen, Bonnie Holtby, Rob Johnson, Jon Kelso.
Missoula Smokejumper: Don Mackey
McCall Smokejumpers: Roger Roth, Jim Thrash.
Helitack: Robert Browning, Jr., Richard Tyler.

[ZRT2209]

25. sweet Jesus

[Liberal_in_LA]

29. so sad

[kestrel91316]

30. Public servants risk their lives to help their communities. Corporate employees don't.

I'll take the evil soshalists any day of the week.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

31. How much does a 1 percenter think it is worth paying firefighters?

Firefighter somewhere: minimum wage

Firefighter protecting one of their several homes: priceless.

[shireen]

57. +1

the contrast between those two types of human beings makes me sick. One group genuinely cares about people, the other looks for every opportunity to squeeze every penny out of people.

Heartbroken.

[Beacool]

33. What a sad procession.

Terrible end for these brave people. My condolences to their loved ones.

Rest in peace.

[ThoughtCriminal]

34. Firefighters Memorial

Payson, AZ

[Rebellious Republican]

38. That is a wild land firefighter memorial.

The statue is not wearing bunker gear.
Thanks for recognizing the difference.

[chillfactor]

35. OMG! so terribly, terribly sad...

that photo and the other pictures here brought me to tears....

[ReRe]

36. No words

Only tears for the loss of these 19 guardian angels.

[ChazInAz]

37. Words fail me.

I was just up in that area in May and saw how dry it was, and worried then that we'd have another devastating fire.
These men and women are true heroes.

[burrowowl]

45. Very Sad!

They had just helped in a NM fire ... these people deserve health care and other benefits that they don't get ...
Call Congress!
Condolences to their families

[Fire Walk With Me]

48. RIP dear ones :(

[bluedeathray]

49. No words can convey

The sense of thanks. The sense of sacrifice. The sense of love. RIP brave ones. Heartfelt condolences to those left behind.

[sarge43]

51. May those noble souls stand in the light.

May their friends and families find comfort and peace

[blueamy66]

52. This is especially sad for me....

We had a cabin in Prescott and spent a lot time in Congress, Yarnell and Skull Valley as well.

My nieces still remember the summers up at the cabin.

They are both talking about going up to the funerals of a few of the heroes.

tearing up as I type.....

This week is rodeo week up in Prescott. It's just not going to be the same, NOT AT ALL. I wonder if they will cancel all of the events.....

[midnight]

58. K&R