Nineteen firefighters - all members of an elite response team - were killed Sunday battling a fast-moving wildfire in Arizona, marking the deadliest single incident for firefighters since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials said.
In a statement, President Barack Obama said the "thoughts and prayers" of all Americans would be with the loved ones of the firefighters killed near the town of Yarnell, Ariz., about 85 miles northwest of Phoenix. He described the fallen men as "heroes."
The fire, which investigators believe was sparked by lightning, also destroyed more than 200 buildings in the town, which is home to about 700 people.
Wade Ward, the public information officer for the Prescott Fire Department in Arizona, talks about the tragic loss of 19 firefighters in a massive wildfire, saying "it had to be the perfect storm in order for this to happen."
Mary Rasmussen, a spokeswoman for the Prescott National Forest, said all 19 killed were members of the 20-strong Granite Mountain Hotshots, a Prescott, Ariz.-based crew who battled blazes in New Mexico and Arizona in recent weeks
Juliann Ashcraft told azcentral.com that she learned her firefighter husband Andrew was dead while watching the news with her four children. “They died heroes,” she said through tears. “And we’ll miss them. We love them.”
Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said that "if you ever met them, you would meet the finest, most dedicated people."
"These are the guys that will go out there with 40, 50 pounds of equipment. They'll sleep out there as they try to develop fire lines and put protection between homes and natural resources and still try to remain safe," he said.
Fraijo said the one surviving member of the Hotshots crew had been at a different location.
Rasmussen, who also works as a wildland firefighter, said the men who died in the Yarnell Hill Fire were “young and brave.”
“They went out as a 20-person crew and they have confirmed 19 fatalities,” she said. “Every day they took on risks. They were alert to those risks, but in this case [there were] extreme burning conditions, some unusual wind and then we’re waiting to see whatever else, what other factors may be involved."
Rasmussen said she knew the crew who died, saying they were part of a “close-knit community” of wildland firefighters.
David Kadlubowski / The Arizona Republic via AP
The deadly wildfire also destroyed homes in the Glenn Ilah area near Yarnell, Ariz, on Sunday.
“It hits hard. It hits deep,” she said. “There’s a lot of people suffering tonight.”
Authorities told the Associated Press that the 19 were caught while trying to deploy their fire shelters, tents designed to trap in breathable air and shield the firefighters from flames and heat.
"The general understanding is they were participating in a direct attack on the fire,” Rasmussen added.
This would have involved getting close to the flames – “one foot in the black and one foot in the green” - and trying to create a fire break devoid of fuel, she said.
A web page for the Granite Mountain Hotshots describes the team’s “history of safe and aggressive fire suppression.”
“Our common bond is our love of hard work and arduous adventure,” it says. “We are routinely exposed to extreme environmental conditions, long work hours, long travel hours and the most demanding of fireline tasks.”
Wade Ward, a spokesman for the Prescott Fire Department, told NBC's TODAY that “it had to be a perfect storm in order for this to happen” to the Hotshots.
“Their situational awareness and there training was at such a high level that it’s unimaginable that this has happened,” he said.
The National Fire Protection Association website says the only wildland fires to kill more people were at Griffith Park, Los Angeles, in 1933, where 29 died, and the Devil’s Broom wildfire at Silverton, Idaho, in 1910, in which 86 firefighters lost their lives. The attack on the World Trade Center resulted in the deaths of 340 firefighters.
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Dry conditions fuel blazes in the U.S.
The blaze, which started Friday, began during a punishing heat wave in which temperatures reached well into triple-digits. Fraijo said the hot, dry conditions fueled the fire.
About 200 firefighters were battling the blaze late Sunday and some 400 were being deployed Monday.
Trudy Thompson Rice, communications officer for the Grand Canyon chapter of the American Red Cross, was at a Red Cross shelter set up at Wickenburg High School, where 15 evacuees from the Yarnell area were sleeping early Monday.
“They are sad. They know a lot of them [the firefighters who died],” she said. “They know families, they know people in the fire services.”
“You don’t want to lose any firefighters, but it’s your neighbors it makes it particularly difficult. They do hand-to-hand combat with these fires and it’s very difficult work.
Thompson Rice said people at the school were also concerned for the firefighters who had to go back out to deal with the wildfire. “They [the evacuees] are hopeful they can get the fire under control so there’s time for grief,” she added.
Chuck Overmyer and his wife, Ninabill, were helping friends leave when the blaze switched directions and moved toward their home, the Associated Press reported. They loaded up what belongings they could, including three dogs and a 1930 model hot rod on a trailer.
As he looked out his rear view mirror, he could see embers on the roof of his garage. "We knew it was gone," he said.
Obama said in a statement that the firefighters were “heroes -- highly-skilled professionals who, like so many across our country do every day, selflessly put themselves in harm's way to protect the lives and property of fellow citizens they would never meet.”
He added: “Michelle and I join all Americans in sending our thoughts and prayers to the families of these brave firefighters and all whose lives have been upended by this terrible tragedy.”
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said Sunday was “as dark a day as I can remember,” speaking of a “truly unimaginable loss.”
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