Prescott Courier: 18 firefighters dead in Yarnell wildfire

[Jefferson23]

Source: CBS News

YARNELL, AZ (CBS5/AP) -

The Prescott Courier reports 18 firefighters have been killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire in the Town of Yarnell.


The fast-moving fire has burned 250 structures in the Town of Yarnell and grown to 2,000 acres, command center officials said Sunday night.

Earlier, 19 firefighters battling the blaze in Yavapai County had not been heard from as the wildfire headed into the Town of Yarnell, fire officials said.

Around 6 p.m., authorities said they were unable to establish communications with them, although they had been seen from a helicopter.



Read more: http://www.kpho.com/story/22724064/prescott-courier-18-firefighters-dead-in-yarnell-wildfire

[petronius]

1. Damn, that's really horrible...

[sweetloukillbot]

2. Another 22 in the hospital

Yarnell is not big and this fire is uncontained and spread in a day. Hopefully everyone was evacuated to Prescott or Wickenberg. I have a friend whose family lived in Yarnell.
Another source - http://www.azcentral.com/news/arizona/articles/20130630crews-fighting-small-fires-around-Arizona.html

[Jefferson23]

4. Thank you for adding that..just horrific. n/t

[Catherina]

3. 19 now

The entire town is engulfed in flames

[Catherina]

5. Oh no! ! 911 twitter now saying entie Prescott crew of firefighters killed

Last edited Mon Jul 1, 2013, 12:15 AM - Edit history (2)

911 Operator ?@911BUFF 28s

BREAKING NEWS OUT OF ARIZONA: LOCAL MEDIA NOW REPORT ENTIRE PRESCOTT FIREFIGHTING CREW OF 25 FIREFIGHTERS KILLED. @william_pitts #911BUFF

https://twitter.com/911BUFF/status/351539751620313088

Edit. NO other reports are saying 25 firefighters. This is probably a mistake ^^^^^ Maybe they meant the entire crew of 19

911 Operator ?@911BUFF 3m

TRUE HEROES! PHOTO FROM THE 19 PRESCOTT FIREFIGHTERS IN BETTER DAYS. 'THOUGHTS & PRAYERS TO THEIR FAMILIES'. DCOURIER

[Jefferson23]

8. No! This is just so out of control, too much loss of life.

[Catherina]

10. This is awful, awful

All those families, those brave firefighters, the innocent wildlife

[Shrike47]

6. So damn sad.

[Catherina]

7. Pic :(

https://twitter.com/911BUFF/status/351538561901793283

[Purveyor]

9. Dear god. I heard in the background on AM radio that many were missing but didn't expect

this.

There aren't words but godspeed to their families and loved ones.

[Catherina]

11. LIVE: Coverage of the Yarnell Fire

LIVE: Coverage of the Yarnell Fire

http://www.azcentral.com/12news/free/20130630yarnell-fire-live.html?sf14516845=1

[alittlelark]

12. .....................

[ForgoTheConsequence]

13. Terrible.

Those men and women are so brave.

I tuned into CNN and MSNBC to see if they had anymore info, I guess reality programming is more important than the news.

[SheilaT]

18. This is the kind of thing that local news often does extremely well.

I'm now listening to the live coverage from the link above.

I figured out a couple of years ago that very often when something dramatic or tragic was happening somewhere, the local news would go to streaming live coverage. I don't have a TV, so being able to get streaming coverage on the internet is quite nice.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

25. A local Arizona station is streaming live.

Still reality shows and murder mysteries on (GE)MSNBC and CNN. BBC World Service is covering it however.

[Iliyah]

14. Prayers!

[SheilaT]

15. Oh, no. I am so sorry to hear this.

I live in Northern New Mexico, where we've already had three major fires in this part of the state. We have gotten some rain these past three days, but I'm not sure it's made much change in our fires.

Because of our frequent fires, I often see various firefighters around town, and they are invariably the nicest and most cheerful people I ever meet. They're also extremely good looking, I might add.

Firefighters do some of the best work, certainly some of the most dangerous, and this is truly sad.

[DesertRat]

16. Local news is saying 19....

My heart is breaking

[Harmony Blue]

17. So sad.

[Arctic Dave]

19. WTF happened!!

How in the hell did that many people get trapped!?

[SheilaT]

26. Fires can move with incredibly rapidity,

that's how people get trapped.

Unfortunately, TV and movies tend to show fires as being sluggish, allowing dramatic rescues to take place. In reality, that doesn't usually happen, and returning to a burning building is generally a very bad idea.

There are any number of excellent books out there about specific fires. Recently I read Killer Show by John Barylick, about the Station Fire in West Warwick, RI, on February 20, 2003 killing 100 people. The nightclub went from being perfectly okay to unsurvivable in something like 90 seconds.

The Big Burn by Timothy Egan subtitled Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America is about a forest fire in 1910 that burned three million acres, totally destroyed five towns in Washington state, Idaho, and Montana. In two days it burned three million acres. An area roughly the size of Connecticut.

October 8, 1871 there was a big fire in Chicago. That very same day there was a fire in Wisconsin, called the Pestigo fire, that killed at least 1500 people, possibly 2500. And I bet you never heard about that one, because Chicago got all the press coverage. Firestorm at Peshtigo by Denise Gess and William Lutz is a riveting account of that fire.

One more terrible fire and a good book about it: Under a Flaming Sky by Daniel James Brown tells of a forest fire that consumed Hinckley, Minnesota, on September 1, 1894. Over 400 people died that day.

Fire is terrible and dangerous far beyond what most people realize.

[Arctic Dave]

28. I realize that. I was a fighter fighter.

I was talking more in the incident command aspect of this tragedy.

[SheilaT]

32. Then I hope you know just

how incredibly fast fire can move. I often think it's a wonder that more fire fighters aren't killed in the line of duty. That they aren't is no doubt because they generally take all the precautions necessary, but sometimes the fire just wins.

[grantcart]

41. Fire fighter is the most dangerous non military job in the US Government

Over the last 10 years more than 300 have died.

[kaiden]

44. "Our" fire traveled at 63 mph.

North Fork Fire. March 2012. One cannot out-run them.

[SheilaT]

54. You are so right that fires cannot be out-run.

Unfortunately, TV and movies constantly show people jumping away from explosions, which move a whole lot faster than a mere fire.

Many years ago there was a half hour science program on TV, probably on one of the early cable channels. Anyway, the one on fire was incredibly informative. It showed how a simple fire in a small trash can can grow to a size that the homeowner cannot possibly put out, usually inside of five minutes. It talked about flash-over, and the narrator said, "Most people who have seen flash-over are dead."

[hedgehog]

52. Also -

Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Men_and_Fire

and

Fire on the Mountain by John Norman Maclean

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_on_the_Mountain_%281999_book%29

[dbackjon]

20. Devasted

[rollin74]

21. very sad

they were apparently killed during a flashover while in (or attempting to get into) their personal fire shelters

just horrible

[snort]

22. This is very bad news for us.

I watched that crew of firefighters drive by this morning. My kids know some of these guys, it's a small town and they were born here. The street lights are out in Prescott now. Prescott National Forest is a tender box. This sucks.

[deurbano]

38. I'm so sorry. What a tragedy.

[calimary]

55. Welcome to DU, deurbano. This is so sad.

Glad you're here. So sorry to hear this. This is one of those stories that tends to band us all together in sympathy and concern. And it invariably takes me back to one of mitt wrongney's many campaign speeches in which he railed against the "expansion of the federal government" and the nerve of President Obama wanting to hire MORE police and MORE firefighters! Oh the outrage! WTF was he thinking???? We NEED our first responders! And we need to honor them and their very important life-saving work, pay them well, equip them with anything they want, quit cutting their benefits, quit fucking with them and dismissing them and demeaning them and insulting them and belittling their work, and treat them as the life-savers and rescuers and selfless sacrifice-makers that they are.

[Jefferson23]

56. I am deeply sorry, such devastation of life. Words fail in such times. n/t

[onehandle]

23. Cut their benefits! Kill their unions!

The GOP only see 18 fewer parasites.

RIP.

[Marrah_G]

24. There are just no words....

[ReRe]

27. I distinctly remember that fire fighting would be one place where the sequester would be felt...

Shame on every one of our elected officials for the "sequester". Firefighting is one department in our local governments which should never suffer budget cuts. How many deaths, how many broken hearts, will this society suffer because of that GD sequester?

[KinMd]

29. I belive this is the most firefighters killed in a single wild fire

in US history. 13 were killed at Mann Gulch in 1949, 14 at the South Canyon fire in Colorado in 1994

[Kali]

30. have names been released?

OMG

[Demo_Chris]

31. One of my best friends is a wildland firefighter who lives in Yarnell...

Haven't gotten hold of him yet, but he is a hot shot fireman for the BLM. Hoping he is safe.

[DesertFlower]

33. very sad. sending positive thoughts

to the families.

[Liberty Belle]

34. These were the elite firefighters-first municipality in the nation to have a hotshot team:

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/13533

Shows how dangerous a firestorm can be, when even this highly trained team could be trapped. What a terrible tragedy and speaking as someone who has reported at the front lines of major wildfires, a very sobering story indeed. This could happen to anyone working at a fireline.

[Kurovski]

35. I'm rarely this shocked by a headline.

This is a remarkable tragedy.

[Wheezy]

36. Horrible.

And shocking.

Sad.

[Ash_F]

37. Very sorry for them and their families.

This is the worst incident regarding firefighters I have heard of, barring 9/11. I have great respect for what they do and the risks they take.

I want to know how this came about. I'm sure we will hear about it in the coming days.

[azurnoir]

40. horrible

awful way to die my heart goes out to their families

[TM99]

42. I knew several of these men.

This is just tragic. I have spent the day in tears.

[Delphinus]

51. {{hugs}}

to you and all who are mourning this loss of life.

[TM99]

53. Thank you Delphinus.

It has been a rough day communicating with their families and other friends.

[Jefferson23]

57. So very sorry for your loss, shocking turn of events. n/t

[TM99]

58. Thank you. n/t

[longship]

43. Oh dear!

This is a horrible loss both for their families and the community. People who put their lives on the line for the benefit of others earn all our respect.

[OldRedneck]

45. Firefighters are public employees . . . just like teachers

Remember when teachers and
other public employees
crashed the stock market,
wiped out our 401ks,
destroyed real estate values,
took billions in bailout money,
destroyed the Gulf of Mexico
with crude oil, gave themselves
billions in bonuses,
and paid no taxes?

Remember that?

Funny, neither do I.

[MissDeeds]

46. Horrible, horrible news

Words fails me...

[maddezmom]

47. So horrible

[Franker65]

48. Shellshocked

Horrible news

[theHandpuppet]

49. No words

Just

[Delphinus]

50. This was front page news in

Northeast Indiana - and I was shocked and horrified reading it. I am greatly saddened by this loss.

[NickB79]

59. We really need to re-evaluate our firefighting procedures

The forests themselves have changed since we started attempting to manage them a century ago. Today they are thicker and more brush-filled, largely because of the fact we so aggressively stamped out any and all fires over the past century. They are also being ravaged by beetle-kill, as the climate has warmed and the beetle populations explode. There are literally millions upon millions of acres of nothing but dead pine trees throughout the western US.

Combined with the increasingly hot and dry summers we've been seeing (again due to climate change), these make for an explosive mix. Frankly, I don't see how we can stop the western forests from eventually burning on a truly massive scale without massive inputs of money and manpower.

Is it better to just pull back, abandon smaller towns, and let it all burn? Probably not. Is it a losing battle trying to stop this from eventually happening? Probably so. I have no idea how we can address these problems, but they must be addressed, even if we don't like the final decisions.

[Jefferson23]

60. Names of the Fallen Ariz. Firefighters Released

19 Firefighters Killed in Blaze


YARNELL, Ariz. — As the windblown blaze suddenly swept toward them, an elite crew of firefighting "Hotshots" desperately rushed to break out their emergency shelters and take cover on the ground under the heat-resistant fabric.

(PROFILE: Inside the Hotshots)

By the time the flames 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 in the town of Prescott, Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said as the last of the bodies were retrieved from the mountain. Only one member survived, and that was because he was moving the unit's truck at the time, authorities said.

Monday evening, the city of Prescott released the names of the men who died. They are:

Andrew Ashcraft, 29
Kevin Woyjeck, 21
Anthony Rose, 23
Eric Marsh, 43
Christopher MacKenzie, 30
Robert Caldwell, 23
Clayton Whitted , 28
Scott Norris, 28
Dustin Deford, 24
Sean Misner, 26
Garret Zuppiger, 27
Travis Carter, 31
Grant McKee, 21
Travis Turbyfill, 27
Jesse Steed, 36
Wade Parker, 22
Joe Thurston, 32
William Warneke, 25
John Percin, 24

President: "We are heartbroken"

http://www.weather.com/news/19-firefighters-die-battling-arizona-wildfire-20130630