Monday, July 01, 2013

Nineteen Firefighters Killed by Arizona Wildfire

The majority of the deceased are reported to be members of the Prescott Fire department who were battling a wildfire in a location called "Yarnell Hill."


It happened late Sunday afternoon near the town of Yarnell in west-central Arizona- about 70 miles northwest of Phoenix.


Those killed were Prescott's  "Granite Mountain Hot Shot" firefighter crew- reportedly  overrun by a wall of flames when the wind shifted.


A 20th firefighter from the crew managed to escape- although injured to an unknown extent.


Some had deployed their emergency heat tents while some had not- according to current media reports.


(YT video time-exposure is over a 20-minute period) 

In the town of Yarnell- population around 650- one TV news report stated "the entire town was destroyed" by the fire.



The nearby town of Peeples Valley- population around 430- remained threatened as the fire was "zero percent contained" per a live TV interview with a fire official at 1 am Monday morning Kansas City (Central) time.


There were reported to be civilian injuries- less than a dozen per various media sources- fortunately none reported critical.


Temperatures were at or approached 120-degrees Sunday afternoon and the heat blew up isolated thunderstorms which probably contributed to the fire's sudden wind shift.



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