It was one of the deadliest wildland fires ever in the U.S., killing 19 members of an elite central Arizona firefighting crew in 2013 after flames trapped them in a brush-choked canyon.
The city of Prescott and the neighboring town of Yarnell are expected to honor the fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots on Friday with public events.
Frances Lechner, president of the Yarnell Area Resource Group, joined The Show to talk more about the anniversary and some of the events planned to observe the day.
When the fire started, dry lightning had struck a patch of vegetation in steep, mountainous terrain and ignited the fire high on a ridge west of Yarnell, which hadn't experienced a wildfire in more than 45 years.
Two days later, the hotshots were battling the wildfire in a box canyon when the winds suddenly shifted and the flames rapidly raced toward them. The 19 men tried to deploy emergency shelters: tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from the flames and heat.
The gusty, hot winds caused the fire to intensify to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and cut off the firefighters' escape route, killing the men, authorities said.
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. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The fire charred more than 13 square miles and destroyed 127 buildings.
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Hundreds gathered on the lawns of the Yavapai County Courthouse on Friday afternoon to memorialize the legacies of the 19 elite Granite Mountain Hotshots who lost their lives in the violent, sudden firestorm that fell on them a decade ago. -
Nine years ago, the Yarnell fire took the lives of 19 hotshot firefighters. Members of the community near where the fire occurred still feel the effects of the tragedy today. -
The small town of Yarnell near Prescott was almost destroyed by a wildfire in 2013. In the process of saving the town, 19 firefighters with the Granite Mountain Hotshots were killed. On Saturday, the town of about 600 people dedicated its memorial to the men who died saving their community. -
The town of Yarnell will hold a ceremony honoring the Granite Mountain Hotshots this Sunday, six years to the day that 19 of them died battling the Yarnell Hill Fire. -
In the summer of 2013, one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history killed 19 firefighters from Prescott. The Granite Mountain Hotshots were cut off from their escape route and the shelters they carried could not withstand the fire’s heat. Their story is now immortalized in the film “Only The Brave."
