This afternoon the
Prescott Fire Department's
Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew (a Type-1 hand crew) was defending the Arizona town of
Yarnell when the
Yarnell Hill Fire blew up on them forcing them to deploy their shelters but to no avail as they were nearly entirely wiped out with 18 or 19 of the crew killed. This story is in its early stages so there is much more unknown than known including precisely how many were killed and if there was one survivor as some reports indicate as well as what precisely went terribly wrong today. Initial reports have half of Yarnell leveled by the fire with approximately 250 structures destroyed. Details here will undoubtedly be revised as more becomes known.
At bottom is a television news segment about the crew and their training taken earlier this year.
HERE is a newspaper article about them just one week ago as they worked the Doce Incident near Payson, AZ.
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| Undated, unattributed, and unprovenanced photo of the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew. |
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| Undated, unattributed, and unprovenanced photo of the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew. |
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| Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew logo patch. |
Hot Shots from Cronkite News on Vimeo.
My heart goes out to all in this most tragic horrific incident, most of all these brave Hot Shot firefighters that lost their lives protecting others. They are the epitome of heroes♥.
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