19 firefighters risked their lives and got killed while battling a fast-moving wildfire in Arizona.
The Arizona State forestry officials confirmed on USA Today that 19 firefighters were killed while battling the blaze in the Yarnell Hill last Sunday.
Their bodies were recovered inside the 19 fire shelters deployed in the area. These fire shelters are designed to protect humans from flames and heat. However, they still didn't manage to survive. The department is now investigating the cause of the wildfire and how the firefighters died even if they were in the fire shelters. They were also members of the ‘hot shot’ crews, the best among the state’s firefighters.
"The entire fire department, the entire area, the entire state is being devastated by the magnitude of this incident," Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said in a news conference.
On a brighter side, one survived the incident. The firefighter survived because he wasn't on site when the fire happened.
U.S Arizona representative Paul Gosar extended his sympathy to the family of the victims.
The Arizona wildfire which occurred last Sunday which began morning pressed the evacuation of 50 families in different communities 85 miles away from the northwest side of Phoenix. Come afternoon, more residents were evacuated as the fire continued burning over 500 homes and 2,000 acres of land ferociously.
The firefighters declared the situation under control by evening after 400 firefighters were deployed on site. Eight members were rushed to the Wickenburg Community Hospital due to burns while 22 were injured. Some were transferred to the Yavapai Regional Medical Center.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center site, there were 1,684 incidents of wildfire in Arizona in 2012 affecting about 216,090 acres of land. The first recorded death from wildfire in the state was in 1990 when a large fire burned Mogollon Rim for 10 days killing six people. Second is the case of these firefighters.
