19 Firefighters Killed By Wildfire Outside of Prescott, Arizona

Having lived in Prescott for many years and having just visited again a couple of months ago this tragedy is quite shocking for a small town like Prescott:

An elite crew of firefighters trained to battle the nation’s fiercest wildfires was overtaken by an out-of-control blaze in Arizona, killing 19 members as they tried to protect themselves from the flames under fire-resistant shields.

It was the most firefighters killed battling a wildfire in the U.S. in decades.

The lightning-sparked fire, which spread to at least 2,000 acres amid triple-digit temperatures, also destroyed 200 homes and sent hundreds fleeing from Yarnell, a town of about 700 residents about 85 miles northwest of Phoenix. Residents huddled in shelters and bars, watching their homes burn on TV as flames lit up the night sky in the forest above the town.

The disaster Sunday afternoon all but wiped out the 20-member Hotshot fire crew based in nearby Prescott, leaving the city’s fire department reeling.

“We grieve for the family. We grieve for the department. We grieve for the city,” Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said at a news conference Sunday evening. “We’re devastated. We just lost 19 of the finest people you’ll ever meet.”  [Associated Press]

 

When I was visiting Prescott a couple of months ago I actually hiked the trail to the top of Granite Mountain which is where one fire already began this summer  It was really dry and I remember thinking to myself how this place would really burn if a fire started.  Unfortunately a couple of months later one of these fires did start and it led to the tragic deaths of 19 firefighters in the community.  This shows what dangerous work fighting fires is and we should all be thankful for the great work firefighters do.