Hundreds of firefighters battling a blaze outside the mountain town of Yarnell came off the line Wednesday to salute a procession of emergency vehicles that had been left by 19 elite firefighting crew members killed in the line of duty.
The firefighters and law enforcement gathered along a highway to honor the Prescott-based unit deployed last weekend. The vehicles were driven by fellow Prescott firefighters. One of the trucks held backpacks, water jugs and coolers. Another was emblazoned with the group’s motto, in Latin: “To be, rather than to seem.”
Fire crews across the U.S. planned to also pause throughout the day to remember the Granite Mountain Hotshots and recognize the dangers firefighters face, said Jim Whittington, spokesman for the Southwest Incident Command Team.
“One of the things that defines the entire wildland firefighting community is we don’t forget,” he said, adding that crews pay tribute every year to those who have died in the nation’s worst firefighting disasters.
“And we will remember this one,” he said, his voice shaking. “It’s tough.”
In the biggest loss of U.S. firefighters since the 9/11 attacks, violent wind gusts on Sunday turned what was believed to be a manageable lightning-ignited forest fire in the town of Yarnell into a death trap that left no escape for the team of Hotshots, most of them in the prime of their lives.
The last investigators of the nine-member team charged with finding out what went wrong in the Yarnell Hill Fire were briefed Wednesday after their arrival.They will be led by Jim Karels, who was appointed Florida State Forester in 2008 and served four fire seasons with the U.S. Forest Service.
The investigation will include examining radio logs, the fire site and weather reports. They’ll also surely talk to the sole survivor of the blaze, 21-year-old lookout Brendan McDonough, who warned his fellow firefighters that the wildfire was switching directions and heading straight for them. After radioing the alert about the growing danger, McDonough made it to safety, while the rest were overtaken by the blaze.
“He did exactly what he was supposed to,” said Wade Ward, who implored the media to respect McDonough’s privacy as he and the families mourn. “He’s trying to deal with the same things that we’re all trying to deal with, but you can understand how that’s compounded being there on the scene.”
Nearly 600 firefighters are battling the blaze, which has burned about 13 square miles. Hundreds were evacuated and crews erected perimeters around the homes.
The fire remained 8 percent contained Wednesday, but fire officials expected that to grow by the day’s end. The hope is to allow residents back into their homes over the weekend and contain the fire by July 12.
The number of destroyed homes and structures stood at 129 in the latest tally released Wednesday by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office. Officials earlier had provided varying estimates ranging from 50 to 250 homes and other buildings lost in in Yarnell, a town of about 700 people. Authorities were able to get a better estimate after taking a closer look at the scene.
Reporters also were allowed into a section of the fire area, where charred pine trees resembled burnt toothpicks sticking out of the hillsides.
The ground was covered in a blackened patchwork, and the higher mountains behind the hills were speckled by pink retardant. The yards and driveways of a few isolated homes were marked by the spots of controlled fires set by firefighters to beat back the blaze.
The area was dusty and smoky but there were no visible flames.
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