![]() That photo of the boys was made into a plate of stainless steel. “Those boys were all cut from the same cloth. “Living in the community and going by the memorial site at the park, it’s never far from your mind,” Theokas said. Fourteen of the firefighters were in their 20s. In recent years, crews have cleared thick shrubs and brush to remove the fuel creating the most aggressive fire behavior and protect homes and other structures.Ī 9-foot (2.7-meter) photo at the Yarnell Hill Fire Memorial Park shows the Granite Mountain Hotshots posing in a human pyramid. Theokas, a 12-year veteran of the Peeples Valley Fire District just north of Yarnell, said his district formed a wildfire division in the wake of the tragedy and increased the amount of equipment to fight wildland fires. “We didn’t know where the firefighters were. “We have GPS and satellites and more robust communications,” Truett said. John Truett, an Arizona state fire management officer, said advances in technology have helped firefighters since then. The Industrial Commission of Arizona, which oversees workplace safety, fined the forestry division $559,000 for not pulling out the Hotshots before the tragedy. The investigation cited some radio communication problems due to heavy radio traffic and some radios not being programmed with appropriate tone guards. The Yarnell fire charred more than 13 square miles (33.6 square kilometers) and destroyed 127 buildings.įollowing a three-month investigation, the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management said it found no evidence of negligence or recklessness by the firefighters. 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. McDonough read the same prayer Friday in Prescott that he recited at the memorial service for the Hotspots that drew people from around the world, including then-Vice President Joe Biden. The only surviving crew member, Brendan McDonough, was posted away from the group as a lookout when the flames overtook the other Hotshots. The gusty, hot winds caused the fire to intensify to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,093 degrees Celsius) and cut off the firefighters’ escape route, killing the men, authorities said.
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