HOT SHOTS FIREFIGHTERS ES TV

On the bleachers, two women held each other and wept into tissues. I know the pain that everyone is trying to overcome and deal with today,' she said. 'I know that it is unbearable for many of you, but it also is unbearable for me. Jan Brewer's voice caught several times as she addressed reporters and residents at Prescott High School. Autopsies were scheduled to determine how the firefighters died. The flames apparently enveloped the fire shelters. 'It's an extreme measure that's taken under the absolute worst conditions,' Fraijo said.Īrizona Forestry Division spokesman Mike Reichling said all 19 victims had deployed their shelters. The hotshot team had spent recent weeks fighting fires in New Mexico and Prescott before being called to Yarnell, entering the smoky wilderness over the weekend with backpacks, chainsaws and other heavy gear to remove brush and trees as a heat wave across the Southwest sent temperatures into the triple digits.Īs a last-ditch effort at survival, members are trained to dig into the ground and cover themselves with a tent-like shelter made of fire-resistant material, Fraijo said.

It's not known how powerful the winds were, but they were enough to cause the fire to grow in size from 200 acres to about 2,000 in a matter of hours Sunday. Southwest incident team leader Clay Templin said the crew and its commanders were following safety protocols, but it appears the fire's erratic nature simply overwhelmed them.īrian Klimowski, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service's Flagstaff office, said there was a sudden increase and shift in wind around the time of the tragedy. It was unclear exactly how the firefighters became trapped.

HOT SHOTS FIREFIGHTERS ES TV

Residents huddled in shelters and restaurants, watching their homes burn on TV as flames lit up the night sky in the forest above the town.

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