On This Day in History; The Granite Mountain Hotshots Tragedy

Gone but not forgotten

On this day, in 2013. An elite hotshot crew based in Prescott, Arizona, was dispatched to the Yarnell Hill Fire. But before we dive into their last call, lets go over the Granite Mountain Hotshots ’ History.

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Originally founded in 2001, the crew was designated as a Fuels Mitigation Crew. A few years later, in 2004, they formed into Crew 7, a Type II Interagency hand crew, and eventually transitioned into a Type I Interagency Hotshot Crew in 2008. (Refer to the bottom of the article for more information on what a Type I or Type II crew is.)

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Now that you understand the crew's history, let’s talk about their last call.

On June 28th, 2013, the Yarnell Hill Fire was caused by a thunderstorm on BLM land near Yarnell, Arizona. The fire had moderate fire activity for the first 48 hours until the wind picked up, and that’s when the crew was dispatched.

On June 30th, upon the crew's arrival, the winds were blowing at over 22 mph, and the temperature was 101 degrees. The region was also experiencing extreme drought conditions. This led to rapid Rates of Spread, extreme behavior, and erratic fire behavior. The fire exploded from 300 acres to over 2,000 acres at a rapid rate.

This tragedy is attributed mainly to sudden, unpredictable, and extreme weather shifts that occurred that day. These weather shifts promoted extreme fire behavior. This sudden rise in intensity led to the crew getting cut off from their escape route and forced the crew to deploy their emergency fire shelters. Radio Communications went dark, limited situational awareness, and a lack of visual of the fire also contributed to the crew's situation.

The crew was ultimately burned over, and the intensity of the heat killed all but one member of the crew.

And you must be wondering, how did only one person survive?

21-year-old Brendan McDonough was serving as a fire lookout when the fire started to threaten his location. At this point, McDonough attempted to contact his crewmembers and was advised to evacuate the area immediately. While hiking out on foot, he was picked up by the superintendent of the Blue Ridge Hotshots and was able to get to a safe location.

While McDonough was evacuating, the other 19 members of the 20-member crew became entrapped. The Blue Ridge Hotshots and McDonough attempted to gain access to the Granite Mountain Hotshots’ location but were forced back by the extreme fire behavior. The Blue Ridge Hotshots then left the scene and attempted to evacuate as many people as possible from the town of Yarnell due to the fast-approaching fire.

After a couple of hours had passed, conditions had finally calmed down enough for a local helicopter to gain access to the Granite Mountain Hotshots deployment location and recover all 19 bodies from the scene.

On July 2nd and 9th, two different memorial services were held to honor the 19 fallen brothers. Both services were open to the public, and thousands of people attended, including over 100 hotshot crews that went to pay their respects to their fellow brothers. President at the time, Barack Obama, declared the crew heroes, and Jan Brewer, Arizona Governor, stated, “This is as dark a day as I can remember.” All flags in Arizona were ordered to be flown at half-staff for the following weeks.

All 19 fallen brothers had their own respective memorials in their hometowns.

A Type I crew is the most highly trained and experienced type of hand crew. They are often called to the worst of the worst incidents.

A Type II crew is essentially a less qualified, less experienced hand crew that does not meet the same standards or qualifications as a Type I crew. They typically work initial attack and undergo basic wildland training

Sources:

https://prescottfire.org/who-we-are/granite-mountain-hotshots/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarnell_Hill_Fire