A nine-member investigative team of forest managers and safety experts arrived in Arizona on July 2. By midday, the state thought the fire was out. They were the First Municipal Hotshots Crew. The state Forestry Division declined to comment when asked whether it circumvented the SWCC by sending the dispatch order directly to Marsh. Neither did Prescott City Attorney Jon Paladini. The Yarnell Hill Fire was one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires since the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which killed 25 people, and the deadliest wildland fire for U.S. firefighters since the 1933 Griffith Park fire, which killed 29 "impromptu" civilian firefighters drafted on short notice to help battle that Los Angeles area fire. You can call it an accident. In early August, Brendan McDonough, the crew's lone survivor and spotter, provided more details of the events leading up to the tragedy, including confirmation that Granite Mountain crew members knew that severe weather was coming and that the fire had turned toward them. Dispatch logs show that the Granite Mountain crew should not have been deployed to fight the Yarnell Hill Fire. The issue goes beyond a mere paperwork snafu. [53] Brendan McDonough published his first-hand account, My Lost Brothers: The Untold Story by the Yarnell Hill Fire's Lone Survivor (May 3, 2016).[54]. #1 Yarnell Hill Fire Wildfire Updated: 2020-05-05 The Yarnell Hill Fire was a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by lightning on June 28, 2013. This map was made to illustrate the chain of events for a story in Men’s Journal magazine, October 2013 issue. We use cookies to collect and analyze information on site performance and usage, and to enhance and customize content and advertisements. [17] Frisby and McDonough moved the crew's vehicles to a safer location, which they were doing at the time of Granite Mountain crew's entrapment.[7][24]. Dry water year for Yarnell, AZ region. The Granite Mountain Hotshots took this action even though they left a ridge where they could see the fire and descended into the box canyon where they no longer could observe what it was doing. Prescott Fire Department officials, including Wildland Division chief Willis, also wouldn't comment on this point. Authorities typically try to keep a tight lid on information related to fatalities involving wildland fire crews. And as is common in the Desert Southwest during summer, a monsoonal flow drew low pressure into the area, leading to the development of thunderstorms early in the morning of June 28. Remembering the deadly Yarnell Hill fire five years later Arizona Gov. Further complicating the situation, the Arizona Forestry Division did not assign an independent division supervisor to oversee Granite Mountain's assignment to cut trees and shrubs to create a fire line on the southwest flank of the blaze. Because the fire occurred on state land and the victims were part of a city fire department, there has been much greater access to facts than normally occurs when only federal agencies are involved. It now was estimated to be between two and four acres. Leadership of the highest moral character is required during these decisions.". "They thought they had it at this point, [that] air attack [had] knocked it down," Deputy State Forester Jerry Payne said in a July interview. Darrell Willis' assertion that the Granite Mountain Hotshots attempted to reach a ranch to protect it from the fire reveals a fundamental problem of having a hotshot crew attached to a municipal fire department, says Gary Olson, the former hotshot supervisor and Bureau of Land Management criminal investigator. The state ordered firefighting crews, made up of inmates from Yuma and Lewis state prisons, to be in Peeples Valley, a small community a few miles north of Yarnell, by 8 a.m. Saturday. Dry lightning sparked the Yarnell Hill Fire on a ridge in the Weaver Mountains west of Yarnell on June 28, 2013, and by June 30, the fire was 300 to 500 acres and growing. The lack of substantial air support and the inability of the inmate crews to cut effective fire lines failed to contain the blaze. Not only did Granite Mountain not have the sufficient number of permanent/career employees, MacKenzie did not meet the minimum standards to be classified as a senior firefighter, having achieved only a Firefighter Type 2 grade, according to city records. "The fire does what it wants to do," explains Rod Wrench, a former member of the Del Rosa Hotshots and superintendent of the Little Tujunga Hotshots, both from California. Commentary. Just one of the hotshots on the crew survived—he was posted as a lookout on the fire and was not with the others when the fire overtook them. "Sometimes the fire gets away from you and becomes a big monster, putting firefighters at risk.". Prescott had two hotshot crews: the city's Granite Mountain unit and the Prescott Hotshots, operated by the Prescott National Forest. Willis has worked for the Prescott Fire Department since 1985 and retired as its fire chief in 2007. I just say that God had a different plan for that crew at this time.". Mangan, the retired wildfire serious-accident investigator, says he knows several members of the investigation team and believes they will provide an accurate assessment of what happened: "I have confidence that they are going to do a good job and let the chips fall where they may.". They are going to protect that ranch.". [16] Officials from the Red Cross said that 351 people spent at least one night at one of the shelters. But excerpts from the Arizona Interagency Dispatch Center log suggest its members had. . But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. Hotshot standards require a Type 1 grade for senior firefighter, one of the seven command positions on a hotshot crew. The nature of this "major disruption" is unclear, as is another big dispute during the 2011 season, when Marsh and his captain — who subsequently resigned — were at odds. Hardly the "elite" crew the mainstream media has described time and again, the Granite Mountain Hotshots and their leadership — except for Marsh and Steed — were relatively green. Willis states he was overseeing structural protection in Peeples Valley. Despite the refusal by the SWCC, records show, the state contacted Granite Mountain superintendent Eric Marsh directly via e-mail on the evening of June 29 and requested that the crew proceed to Yarnell the next morning. Yarnell Hill Fire: The Granite Mountain Hotshots Never Should've Been Deployed, Mounting Evidence Shows, A Granite Mountain Hotshot's Father Says the Blaze That Incinerated His Son Could've Been Controlled, Key Evidence in Arizona's Yarnell Hill Fire Tragedy Never Provided to Official Investigators, Closer Look: How 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots Died in the Yarnell Hill Fire (Slideshow). [19][20] However, not all of the bodies were found inside the fire shelters. Such employees are considered "permanent, seasonal" and receive "appointments and benefits," the NIFC states in published reports, that MacKenzie did not get. Willis and Fraijo signed the certification checklist on the same day. The dispatch logs show that the SWCC did not respond to this message. The huge unanswered question, of course, is why the Granite Mountain Hotshots left the safe area that already had been burned and hiked cross-country through thick, unburned chaparral and down into the steep canyon as the powerful thunderstorm was pushing flames directly at them. Shumate said he wanted two hotshot crews sent to Yarnell by 6 a.m. the next day. ", Three minutes later, the logs show that "ABQ" (short for Albuquerque, where the SWCC is located) responded with a terse message to Arizona dispatch: "Can't accept assignment. "Until the weather changes or the fuel changes or the terrain changes, there isn't much you can do.". They had deployed together in their fire shelters. [10] On July 2, the fire was estimated at 8% containment and had not grown in the past 24 hours. MacKenzie's Prescott personnel file, however, states that he was a "temporary and seasonal" employee. The official report is now available for download at several locations. The Yarnell Hill Fire is the sixth-deadliest American firefighter disaster in history, the deadliest wildfire ever in the state of Arizona, and (at least until 2014) was "the most-publicized event in wildland firefighting history. "The hell with the town of Yarnell," Mangan says. "We're not going to have that information from [the dead men]. With the microphones attached, a score of cameras ready, and the national press — including correspondents from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal — poised, Willis begins a 15-minute monologue describing what he believes happened on that afternoon, when America's tight-knit National Interagency Fire Center hotshot crews suffered their biggest disaster in the network's 66-plus-year history. [12] Four days later, on July 8, Yarnell residents were permitted to return. "My thought on it was they were in a safe location," Willis said during the deployment-site press briefing. [35] That memorial was attended by thousands, including representatives from over 100 hotshot crews across the country, and was streamed live by several media outlets. Four of the seven members of Granite Mountain's command staff were in their first season in their positions. SWCC officials refused to respond to questions about whether Granite Mountain had reached its requirement for mandatory days off by June 30. [44][45], Richard Brody, in The New Yorker: "The Story That 'Only the Brave' Leaves Out" (October 23, 2017),[46] and Fernanda Santos, in The New York Times: "Money Splits a City Still Mourning Its Firefighters" (June 26, 2014)[47] point out numerous cases of firefighters' and their survivors' benefits having been withheld, lawsuits, and acrimony among the local politicians, some citizens, and the survivors of the firefighters who died in the Yarnell Hill Fire that became so extreme that,[46] as Santos observes: "Juliann Ashcraft (wife of Granite Mountain Hotshot, Andrew Ashcraft) decided to leave Prescott altogether to spare her four children the discomfort of whispers and glares. "This crew was extremely faith-based, and they operated in the joy of life, and that is one of the ways we want to remember them," Paxon says. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Phoenix with no paywalls. Why do firefighters run into burning buildings when it's just property?". Increasing evidence reveals that reasons far from supernatural contributed to the tragic deaths of 19 of the 20 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. TV crews hook up microphones to Willis' shirt as photographers fan out to take the first pictures of what wildland firefighters call the "deployment site." See Also: Closer Look: How 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots Died in the Yarnell Hill Fire (Slideshow). Hotshots clear fire breaks with chainsaws, shovel dirt to put out fires, and often start fires to burn out fuel — fighting fire with fire. By clicking 'X' or continuing to use the site, you agree to allow cookies to be placed. The Yarnell Hill Fire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by lightning on June 28, 2013. The commission levied a $559,000 fine. Turnover, promotions to Prescott's higher-paying traditional structural firefighting division, and chronic internal disputes — which led to resignations among crew leaders — had taken a toll on the squad before the start of the 2013 season. Dick Mangan, the retired wildfire investigator who now runs a wildfire-consulting business in Missoula, Montana, says he never jeopardized the safety of his crew to save a structure or even an entire evacuated town of buildings. [27], On June 30, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer issued a statement offering her condolences. "You know, it's all speculation at this point in time," Willis said. [51][52] Kyle Dickman, a former firefighter and former editor of Outside magazine, published the nonfiction book, On the Burning Edge: A Fateful Fire and the Men Who Fought It (2015). Price Range Not Applicable. There's a ranch down there. Where once stood a near-impenetrable tangle of high-desert brush, collectively called "chaparral," only blackened earth and a few charred stumps remain. There is no one from Arizona on the Serious Accident Investigation Team charged with producing a "factual and management report for accident prevention.". The personnel-related matters call into question whether the crew met minimum hotshot qualifications. To find out more, visit our cookies policy and our privacy policy. [8] The fire was declared 100% contained on July 10. "It was difficult not to be angry and vengeful in the situation," Marsh wrote. The Arizona Division of Forestry has been fined $559,000 for workplace violations during the Yarnell Hill fire that left 19 elite firefighters dead, state health and safety officials said Wednesday. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox, Phoenix Restaurant Directory: Takeout/Delivery/Dine-in, Revelers at Massive Party in Tonto National Forest Covered the Desert in Poop. The Arizona Forestry Division's decision to let the fire burn the night it started on state land and then dispatch prison crews the next day rather than apply overwhelming force to put it out — combined with a lack of sufficient aircraft to apply desperately needed retardant — turned a manageable event into a catastrophe. On June 30, it overran and killed 19 firefighters with the Prescott Fire Department’s Granite Mountain Hotshots. The city contributed $249,000 in matching funds for the grants, plus an additional $68,000 in general funds. "It is frustrating when I know that I have the answers to anyone's questions about the program but can't communicate with the decision makers to engage in educational dialogue," he wrote. Just one of the hotshots on the crew survived—he was posted as a lookout on the fire and was not with the others when the fire overtook them. Com, Congress, Arizona. "If I order up a Type 1 [hotshot crew], my expectation is that they are going to meet these standards," says Dick Mangan, a former wildland firefighter and investigator on major fire disasters, including the South Canyon Fire in Colorado, where nine hotshots and five other firefighters were killed in 1994, and on the Dude Fire near Payson, where six inmate firefighters were killed in 1990. Willis acknowledged Marsh's frustration over the two lost positions in the annual review. Although the certification checklist was required to be signed by the crew's superintendent, Marsh did not sign the document. This article incorporates public domain material from the National Weather Service document: "Yarnell Fire June 28 – July 10, 2013". [23] He had been serving as a lookout when the fire threatened to overtake his position. [3], On June 30, firefighters with the Prescott Fire Department's interagency Granite Mountain Hotshots were overrun and killed by the fire. Willis said he believes the Granite Mountain crew left its safe position in the charred area to protect the ranch that was on the outskirts of Yarnell, the same ranch that wound up spared because of the clearings the residents dug around it. The crews can be assigned to work for up to 14 days in a row on out-of-town assignments. [31] On July 2, members of the Arizona Cardinals visited one of the Red Cross shelters, and the team president donated US$100,000 to the 100 Club of Arizona, an organization that assists firefighters, police, and their families in crises. While Deputy State Forester Payne stated that Marsh erred in taking his crew out of "the black" and through unburned chaparral, Olson is not so quick to blame Marsh. Marsh was superintendent of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. 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