Wildfire in Arizona kills 19 firefighters, covers 2,000 acres, prompts evacuation of 50 homes
Wildfire in Arizona kills 19 firefighters, covers 2,000 acres, prompts evacuation of 50 homes
01 July 2013
published by www.nydailynews.com
USA — At least 19 firefighters all members of the same elite crew were killed Sunday battling a wind-whipped Arizona blaze that has torched 250 homes.
The calamity is believed to be the worst wildfire tragedy in history, surpassing the deaths of 14 smoke eaters in the Storm King fire near Glenwood, Colo., in 1994.
The firefighters were battling the blaze on Yarnell Hill, 35 miles southwest of Prescott, when they became trapped by a wall of flames 15 to 20 feet high, officials said.
Something drastic happened, Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said Sunday night.
The 19 dead were members of his Prescott Granite Mountain Hotshots, a specialized team trained to combat extreme wildland blazes.
The entire hotshot crew has been killed by the fire, Fraijo said.
Art Morrison, spokesman for the Arizona State Forestry Department, said the doomed firefighters died near the frontline of fire, deploying their tent-like fire shelters in a desperate attempt to survive.
The crew, formed in 2002, had recently returned from battling fires in New Mexico. A Facebook page was set up in memory of the perished Prescott firefighters.
Absolutely devastating news, former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords tweeted Sunday night.
The fire had burned up to 2,000 acres by Sunday night, prompting widespread evacuations and the closure of 25 miles of state Route 89, a major thoroughfare through central Arizona.
At least half of the 500 houses in the town of Yarnell had been destroyed, officials said.
Up to 22 firefighters were being treated for injuries at the nearby Wickenburg Community Hospital, officials said.
The blaze broke out amid triple-digit record heat throughout the West.
The National Weather Services thermometer recorded a peak temperature of 128 degrees in Death Valley National Park, which ties the record for the hottest June day anywhere in the country and not far from a global record.
The highest temperature recorded on Earth is 134 degrees, nearly a century ago in Death Valley.
