Granite Mountain Hotshots

[triangleforge]

My town is in shock today, mourning the loss of 19 of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew on the Yarnell Hill Fire. The wound is particularly deep in this community in that the Granite Mountain crew is organized entirely out of the Prescott fire department; the dead are all local, professional firefighters in a town where everyone seems to be close to someone touched by this. There will be plenty of details that emerge over the coming days, months and years, but for now, this is how I want to remember them - a tough, professional crew working in impossibly rugged conditions on last week's Doce fire, busting their asses to save not only people and homes, but one incredibly ancient alligator juniper in the heart of their namesake wilderness.

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=120588&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1086&S=1

[Monsterlover]

That's tough.

I have a lot of respect and admiration for people that can do jobs like that because it's not something I, myself, would be physically capable of.  It's long, hard, dangerous and dirty work. 

And, I imagine, very rewarding for those that choose that path.

Saving a 1000-2000 year old tree is pretty badass.  I didn't see how those guys lost their lives but I don't think it really matters.

Hats off to them and those like them for the hard work they do.

RIP GMHS

[ungeheuer]

Many questions will be asked about how such tragedy occurred.  But right now, that's not important.  These brave souls lost their lives battling to save the lives and property of others - heading directly into the path of furious and unpredictable danger whilst the rest of us would have fled.

Hot, dirty, hard and nasty work.  And when it goes wrong, it goes wrong so very quickly.  I have nothing but admiration for these people willing to face such danger.

[fastwin]

That tore me up when I heard about that last night on the news with more details this morning. Awful story.

We lost a firefighter here in Dallas not long ago, I think there were 5 lost in Houston recently and of course several in West, Texas where the fertilizer plant exploded taking out a good portion of that Czech community.

RIP to all the Hotshots and all of the other firefighters recently lost. Condolences to their families, neighbors and friends.

[LowThudd]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/01/firefighters-killed-in-arizona-fire-remembered-mourned/

And to their families, I send out my prayers.

[Skybarney]

My heart goes out and tears were in my eyes.  I barely made it out of a fire in Southern California once.  Scariest thing just about ever.  What a horrible way to die.  To those that fight fires we all owe you one.  It takes tremendous bravery to fight a raging forest fire knowing that a mistake could lead to being roasted alive. 

RIP Hotshots.

[Grampa]

 

[kopfjäger]

Very sad. RIP

[hbliam]

Our policy at work only allows us to wear black bands over our badges during specified times and for only specified periods of time depending on the circumstance. And only for fallen police officers. Today I got an email dictating we will be wearing them for the 19 fallen firefighters. Nice to see our admin appropriately bend the rules.

RIP hotshots.

[Stella]

Incredible sadness seems too shallow of a sentiment.


RIP to these heros ~ light and love to the families and the community.

[pitbull]

As a professional, structural firefighter, I am always awed by the work of wild land firefighters. I'm not sure it's something I would be capable of doing.


RIP brothers and peace to your families.

[triangleforge]

If you're up to it, you can find out more about the men who died, their families, and how the community is trying to cope with it all at https://www.facebook.com/PrescottGraniteMountainHotshots?hc_location=stream. If you're moved to try and help in some way, financially or otherwise, there are good links on that page to organizations that are trying to help. Personally, we're supporting Prescott Firefighters Charities at http://www.prescottffcharities.org/how-you-can-help/

If, like me, one of the ways you try to cope with tragedy is to attempt to understand it, this is the best early description I've seen of what is currently known about the factors that came together to make this fire so dangerous. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/07/01/the-weather-that-led-to-the-deadly-yarnell-hill-fire/

And to get a sense of the terrain & dried-out vegetation these guys were working in, this heartbreaking photo - which bears the caption "The final photo Arizona firefighter Andrew Ashcraft texted to his wife before dying in the Yarnell Hill fire" - tells the story.

[herm]

this sucks....

[LowThudd]

And to get a sense of the terrain & dried-out vegetation these guys were working in, this heartbreaking photo - which bears the caption "The final photo Arizona firefighter Andrew Ashcraft texted to his wife before dying in the Yarnell Hill fire" - tells the story.

Could you tell from the picture that the entire valley in the picture was about to become ablaze? They COULD, and went anyway. What a loss of heroic men.

[Randimus Maximus]

Truly a tragic loss.

I've been to Prescott many times and know how tight-knit that area is.

Yarnell is a beautiful area, even though there may be some over-zealous officers on Yarnell Hill on occasion.

This fire, much like many in recent times, will be devastating to many.

I saw this photo posted on Facebook, attributed to the Granite Mountain Hotshots.  19 links in this chain.  Very fitting tribute.