Arizona cities hold 10-year remembrance for 19 firefighters who died in the Yarnell Hill Fire
Download mp3 (9.51 MB)
It was one of the deadliest wildland fires ever in the U.S., killing 19 members of an elite central Arizona firefighting crew in 2013 after flames trapped them in a brush-choked canyon.
The city of Prescott and the neighboring town of Yarnell are expected to honor the fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots on Friday with public events.
Frances Lechner, president of the Yarnell Area Resource Group, joined The Show to talk more about the anniversary and some of the events planned to observe the day.
When the fire started, dry lightning had struck a patch of vegetation in steep, mountainous terrain and ignited the fire high on a ridge west of Yarnell, which hadn't experienced a wildfire in more than 45 years.
Two days later, the Hotshots were battling the wildfire in a box canyon when the winds suddenly shifted and the flames rapidly raced toward them. The 19 men tried to deploy emergency shelters: tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from the flames and heat.
The gusty, hot winds caused the fire to intensify to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and cut off the firefighters' escape route, killing the men, authorities said.
The Yarnell Hill Fire was the deadliest wildland fire since the 1933 Griffith Park Fire in Los Angeles that killed 29 firefighters, and the largest loss of life for firefighters since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The fire charred more than 13 square miles and destroyed 127 buildings.
More stories from KJZZ
