Yarnell Hill Fire

Yarnell Hill Fire
Location Yarnell, Yavapai County, Arizona,
U.S.
Coordinates 34°14′54″N 112°45′29″W / 34.24833°N 112.75806°W / 34.24833; -112.75806Coordinates: 34°14′54″N 112°45′29″W / 34.24833°N 112.75806°W / 34.24833; -112.75806
Statistics
Date(s) June 28, 2013 - July 10, 2013
Burned area 8,400 acres (3,400 ha)[1]
Cause Lightning
Land use Mixed (residential and wildlands)
Buildings
destroyed		 129
Injuries 23
Fatalities 19

The Yarnell Hill Fire was a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by lightning on June 28, 2013. On June 30, it overran and killed 19 City of Prescott firefighters, members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. The wildfire was fully contained by July 10, 2013.

This event resulted in the highest wildland firefighter death toll in the United States since the 1933 Griffith Park Fire killed 29 firefighters, and the highest death toll from any U.S. wildfire since the 1991 East Bay Hills fire killed 25 people. It is the sixth-deadliest American firefighter disaster overall and the deadliest wildfire ever in Arizona.[2]

Origin and development

Aerial view of the fire from the south.
Video of the fire.

At 5:36 p.m. MST (23:36 UTC) on June 28, 2013, lightning ignited a wildfire on BLM lands near Yarnell, Arizona, a town of approximately 700 residents about eighty miles northwest of Phoenix.[1][3] Strong winds in the area, reaching more than 22 mph (35 km/h), pushed the fire on June 30 from 300 acres (120 ha) to over 2,000 acres (810 ha).[4] A long-term drought affecting the area contributed to the fire's rapid spread and erratic behavior, as did temperatures of 101 °F (38 °C). Emergency dispatchers were prevented from sending in fire crews immediately by BLM personnel.[5]

By July 1 the fire had grown to over 8,300 acres (3,400 ha). The nearby community of Peeples Valley was evacuated.[6] The fire was still completely uncontrolled, with more than 400 firefighters on the line.[7] On July 2 the fire was estimated at 8 percent containment, but it had not grown in the past 24 hours.[8] By the end of the day on July 3, the fire was reportedly 45 percent contained and not growing; 600 firefighters were assigned. Peeples Valley residents were allowed to return to their homes on July 4[9] and Yarnell residents on July 8.[10] The fire was declared 100 percent contained on July 10.[11]

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said that 127 buildings in Yarnell and two in Peeples Valley had been destroyed.[12] A "flash point" of the fire was the Glen Ilah neighborhood of Yarnell where fewer than half of the structures were burned.[2]

Response

Officials shut down 25 miles (40 km) of Arizona State Route 89 shortly after the fire started[4] and 15 miles (24 km) of State Route 89 remained closed as of June 30.[13] A total evacuation of Yarnell and partial evacuation of Peeples Valley was ordered.[6] At least 600 people were under mandatory evacuation orders. An evacuation shelter was set up at Yavapai College in Prescott, with members of the Red Cross providing cots and blankets for overnight stays, along with meals and medical assistance.[13] A second evacuation shelter was set up at Wickenburg High School in nearby Wickenburg because the closure of State Route 89 made it impossible for some people to reach the first shelter.[14] The Red Cross said that 351 people spent at least one night at one of the shelters.[2]

A Type 2 incident management team was in charge of the fire late on June 30, with a Type 1 team ordered.[15] Clay Templin's Southwest Area Type 1 IMT assumed management of the fire on July 1.[16]

Resources on June 30 included 16 engines, eight water tenders, two crash-rescue vehicles, two structure protection vehicles, one bulldozer, one hotshot crew (with another four on order), seven Type 2 handcrews, and a camp crew. One very large airtanker (VLAT) and an air attack unit were also on order.[1] By the morning of July 2 the fire had grown another 800 acres, as mapped by an infrared aircraft flight. The fire was still at zero containment. Resources included five Type 1 hotshot crews, seven Type 2 crews, three Type 1 heavy helicopters, two Type 2 medium helicopters, two Type 3 light helicopters, and 36 engines.[4][17]

Fatalities

Granite Mountain Hotshots
Killed
  • Andrew Ashcraft, 29
  • Robert Caldwell, 23
  • Travis Carter, 31
  • Dustin Deford, 24
  • Christopher MacKenzie, 30
  • Eric Marsh, 43
  • Grant McKee, 21
  • Sean Misner, 26
  • Scott Norris, 28
  • Wade Parker, 22
  • John Percin, 24
  • Anthony Rose, 23
  • Jesse Steed, 36
  • Joe Thurston, 32
  • Travis Turbyfill, 27
  • William Warneke, 25
  • Clayton Whitted, 28
  • Kevin Woyjeck, 21
  • Garret Zuppiger, 27
Crew member not at deployment site, injured
  • Brendan McDonough, 21
Yarnell Hill Fire
Location of the Yarnell Hill Fire within Arizona

On June 30, 19 firefighters with the Prescott Fire Department's interagency[18] Granite Mountain Hotshots were overrun and killed by the fire.[19] Initial reports indicated that one of the firefighters was not a member of the hotshot crew, but Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo later confirmed that all 19 were from the Granite Mountain Hotshots.[20]

The firefighters had apparently deployed fire shelters, but not all of the bodies were found inside them.[21] The city of Prescott released the names of the 19 firefighters on July 1.[22]

The lone survivor from the 20-man crew was 21-year-old Brendan McDonough. He had been serving as a lookout when the fire threatened to overtake his position. McDonough was about to deploy his safety shelter when he was rescued by Brian Frisby, the Superintendent of the Blue Ridge Hotshots, who was monitoring the radio communications between McDonough and the Granite Mountain IHC Captain. Frisby and McDonough moved the crew's vehicles to a safer location, which they were doing at the time of Granite Mountain crew entrapment.[4][19][23] After moving the vehicles, Frisby and other members of the Blue Ridge Hotshots attempted to rescue the entrapped Granite Mountain Hotshots but were forced back by the intense flames and heat of the fire. Driving through the streets of Yarnell, the Blue Ridge Hotshots evacuated several residents who had failed to evacuate earlier. Frisby and his assistant eventually made their way to the entrapment site and were some of the first individuals to find the deployment site and the remains of the Granite Mountain crew.[4][17][18][19] According to the National Fire Protection Association, it was the greatest loss of life for firefighters in a wildfire since 1933, the deadliest wildfire of any kind since 1991, and the greatest loss of firefighters in the United States since the September 11 attacks.[24]

Reactions

On June 30, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer issued a statement offering her condolences. "This is as dark a day as I can remember," she said.[25] She ordered flags flown at half-staff in Arizona through July 19.[26] President Barack Obama issued a statement on July 1, promising federal help and praising the 19 firefighters as heroes.[27] Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Craig Fugate and United States Fire Administrator Ernest Mitchell issued similar statements on July 1.[28] On July 2, members of the Arizona Cardinals visited one of the Red Cross shelters and the team president donated $100,000 to the 100 Club of Arizona, an organization that assists firefighters, police, and their families in crises.[29] Authorities said that $800,000 had been raised for the families of the victims as of July 4.[30]

On July 2, more than 3,000 people attended a public memorial service at an indoor stadium in Prescott.[31] Vice President Joseph Biden, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, and the team's lone surviving firefighter, Brendan McDonough, spoke at a memorial in Prescott on Tuesday, July 9, 2013.[32] That memorial was attended by thousands, including representatives from over 100 hotshot crews across the country, and was streamed live by several media outlets.[33] Individual memorial services were scheduled for later in the hometowns of the 19 firefighters.

A flagpole has been placed at the deployment site where the 19 firefighters died; the site is not accessible to the public but can be seen from an overlook, adjacent to Highway 89 in Yarnell, which has been named the Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial Overlook. A second memorial has been placed at the intersection of State Route 89 and Hays Ranch Road in Peeples Valley.[34]

A nine-member investigative team of forest managers and safety experts arrived in Arizona on July 2; their mission is to "understand what happened as completely as possible" to prevent similar incidents.[31]

The Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball began wearing a black patch with the number "19" on it in memory of the firefighters.

Aftermath

After the fire, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ruled that the fire does not qualify for disaster aid to homeowners because most of the homes that were burned had insurance. Under federal law, federal disaster relief is not available if there is insurance, and FEMA said "damage to uninsured private residences from this event was not beyond the response and recovery capabilities of the state (and) local governments and voluntary agencies." Brewer appealed to Obama to overturn the decision.[35]

Following a three-month investigation, the state's Forestry Division released a report on September 28, 2013 which found no evidence of negligence or recklessness in the deaths of the 19 firefighters, and revealed that an airtanker carrying flame retardant was directly overhead as the firefighters died. The investigation did find some problems with radio communications due to heavy radio traffic and the fact that some radios were not programmed with appropriate tone guards.[36][37]

On December 4, 2013, the Industrial Commission of Arizona, which oversees workplace safety, blamed the state's Forestry Division for the deaths of the 19 firefighters, based on an investigation by the state's Division of Occupational Safety and Health. The Commission said that state fire officials knowingly put protection of property ahead of safety and should have pulled crews out earlier. The commission levied a $559,000 fine.[38][39]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "InciWeb the Incident Information System: Yarnell Hill Fire". Inciweb.org. 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Ryman, Anne; Ruelas, Richard; Goth, Brenna; O%27Connor, Erin; Walsh, Jim; Woodfill, D.S. (July 9, 2013). "Damage shocks Yarnell fire evacuees as they return home". USA Today. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  3. ↑ Santos, Fernanda (July 1, 2013). "Arizona Blaze That Killed 19 Firefighters Rages On". New York Times. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Jackee Coe and Laurie Merrill (June 30, 2013). "19 firefighters dead in Yarnell Hill Fire". Arizona Central. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
  5. ↑ http://www.azcentral.com/news/arizona/articles/20130705yarnell-fire-time-critical-events.html
  6. 1 2 Amy B Wang (July 1, 2013). "Yarnell Hill Fire: Road closures". Arizona Central. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  7. ↑ "'For now, we mourn': Few answers after 19 killed in Arizona wildfire". NBC News. July 1, 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  8. ↑ Yarnell Hill Fire now 8 percent contained
  9. ↑ "Yarnell fire containment up to 45 percent; some in area can go home tonight". azcentral.com. July 4, 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  10. ↑ Yarnell Hill Fire, at InciWeb.org, July 7, 2013
  11. ↑ "Arizona's Yarnell Hill fire 100 percent contained", from UPI
  12. ↑ "Yarnell Hill Fire containment up to 45 percent". azcentral.com. July 3, 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  13. 1 2 Benson, Phil (June 30, 2013). "19 firefighters dead in Yarnell wildfire". KLTV 7. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
  14. ↑ Bierman, Breanne (July 1, 2013). "Yarnell Hill Fire: Red Cross sets up shelters for Arizona wildfire victims". CBS 5 Arizona. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Southwest Coordination Center". NIFC. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Yarnell Hill Fire incident info". inciweb. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  17. 1 2 "Southwest Coordination Center". SWCC. 2013. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  18. 1 2 "Granite Mountain Hotshots". Prescott Fire Department. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  19. 1 2 3 "Multiple firefighter fatalities on the Yarnell Fire in Arizona". Wildfiretoday.org. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Granite Mountain Hotshots". Washington Post. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  21. ↑ Harris, Craig (July 1, 2013). "Deadly Yarnell Hill Fire: Crews expect fire to be erratic". The Republic. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  22. ↑ "19 elite firefighters killed in Arizona wildfire identified". WPVI-TV. July 1, 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  23. ↑ https://higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/WILDFIRELESSONS/Yarnell_Hill_Fire_Investigation_Report.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJH5D4I4FWRALBOUA&Expires=1389289803&Signature=HjOsBhKGRCZDyxjxWdqgfapZ6bY%3D
  24. ↑ Anthony Castellano (July 1, 2013). "19 Firefighters Killed in Arizona Wildfire". Yahoo!. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  25. ↑ "Statement from Governor Jan Brewer:Tragedy on the Yarnell fire" (PDF). State of Arizona. June 30, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Statement from Governor Jan Brewer: Lowering flags for fallen firefighters". Yuma News Now. July 1, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  27. ↑ Pearce, Matt (July 1, 2013). "Obama on Arizona firefighter deaths: 'They were heroes'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  28. ↑ "Statements by FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and US Fire Administrator Ernest Mitchell on the Wildfire in Arizona". Federal Emergency Management Agency. July 1, 2013. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  29. ↑ Ryan Wilson (July 2, 2013). "Cardinals donate $100,000 to assist families affected by Yarnell Fire". CBS News. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  30. ↑ "Yarnell Fire: Blaze 45% contained, services for Prescott 19 set for Tuesday". ABC15. July 4, 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  31. 1 2 "Arizona fire investigators look at what went wrong". AP, reported by Yahoo News. July 3, 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  32. ↑ 'We all owe you': Thousands pay tribute to fallen Arizona firefighters
  33. ↑ "Photos and observations from the Granite Mountain 19 Memorial Service". July 9, 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  34. ↑ Hendley, Matthew (July 10, 2013). "Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial Placed at Location Where 19 Firefighters Died". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  35. ↑ Fischer, Howard (September 4, 2013). "Governor asks president to overturn FEMA decision on Yarnell Hill fire". Capitol Media Services. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  36. ↑ Pearce, Matt; Carcamo, Cindy (28 September 2013). "No negligence in deaths of 19 Arizona firefighters, report says". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  37. ↑ Fonseca, Felicia; Dreier, Hannah (28 September 2013). "Communications problems cited in deaths of 19 Arizona Hotshot firefighters". NBC News. Associated Press. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  38. ↑ "Report blames Arizona Forestry Division for firefighter deaths". Associated Press (Fox News). December 5, 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  39. ↑ Johnson, M. Alex (December 5, 2013). "Yarnell Hill fire: Arizona agency didn't prioritize Hotshots' safety, officials say". NBC News. Retrieved 8 December 2013.

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