How did the hotshots get trapped?
The Yarnell Hill Fire was a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by dry lightning on June 28, 2013. On June 30, it overran and killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots….
| Yarnell Hill Fire | |
|---|---|
| Cause | Dry lightning |
| Buildings destroyed | 129 |
| Deaths | 19 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 23 |
Why didn’t fire rescues save granite hotshots?
“The Yarnell Hill Fire was pretty tragic because an entire Hotshot crew, the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew, perished in that fire,” Mason said. With temperatures exceeding 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit with extreme turbulent air conditions, Mason notes no fire shelter could have protected that crew on June 30 of 2013.
What temperature can a fire shelter withstand?
500 degrees Fahrenheit
Shelters reflect almost 95 percent of radiant heat, or heat coming from the sun. With direct heat in the form of flames, the shelter can withstand 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything hotter and the shelter begins to melt and no longer protects the firefighter.
How many firefighters died in the Yarnell Hill Fire?
The Yarnell Hill was the largest wildland firefighter loss of life since the 1933 Griffith Park Fire in California in which 29 firefighters were killed, surpassing even the line-of-duty deaths at Colorado’s South Canyon Fire in 1994 and Montana’s Mann Gulch Fire in 1949.
Where was the roadblock after the Yarnell Fire?
Three days after the hotshots died, on the morning of Wednesday, July 3, I stood at a roadblock on Route 89, about 4 miles south of the charred remains of Yarnell. I was one of a couple of dozen journalists scattered along the blacktop’s edge.
Where did the Hotshots cut the fire lines?
The hotshots reported for duty at 8:00 am. After weather, operational, and safety briefings they were assigned to cut fire lines along the southern flank of the fire, far from the active, northern side of the burn. That would protect Glen Ilah, a neighborhood of modest homes about a mile west of central Yarnell and closer to the blaze.
How many firefighters died in the Dude Fire?
More recent tragedies include the 1990 Arizona Dude Fire, which took the lives of six firefighters, and Colorado’s 1994 Storm King Mountain blaze, in which 14 firefighters died. After each of those disasters, officials tried to improve the tools and tactics of firefighting to prevent further deaths.