Hot shots firefighters that died in fire9/17/2023 ![]() "The entire fire department, the entire area, the entire state is being devastated by the magnitude of this incident," Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said. "It's just searing to lose all those men," she said. But in that short time, they had come to know some of the firefighters. Sarver and her family moved to Prescott - a city of 40,000 - last year from Virginia. Kathy Stapp, 46, and Carianne Sarver, 25, came to pray and reflect. I haven't slept since I heard about it yesterday." "He was always a good guy - always funny," said Oliver, who declined to name his cousin. "This is a nightmare scenario for firefighting: thunderstorms producing little rainfall, unpredictable, shifting winds, and, of course, lightning strikes," Weather Channel meteorologist Jon Erdman said.Īmie Nichols and fiancé Dustin Oliver came to honor Oliver's cousin and close friend, nicknamed Tiny. Air tankers and helicopters were also saturating the area to keep it from spreading. Some 200 homes and businesses have been devoured in the towns of Glen Isla and Yarnell, 30 miles south of Prescott and about 85 miles northwest of Phoenix.Įrratic winds and dry grasses have been feeding the inferno as more than 400 firefighters were trying to flank it from three sides in triple-digit heat. The 2,000 acres burning Sunday quadrupled by Monday, with 8,400 acres engulfed in towering flames and unthinkable heat. The blaze - the worst wildfire tragedy since 1933 and the biggest loss of firefighters since 9/11 took 343 New York Fire Department personnel - was ignited Friday by lightning. "When I heard about this, it just hit me hard," he said. Prescott resident Keith Gustafson placed 19 water bottles in the shape of a heart. Outside a gated, locked fence where more than a dozen vehicles left behind by the lost firefighters remain parked, a stream of tearful mourners honored the loss of neighbors, relatives and friends with flowers, signs, balloons, flags, caps, letters, religious figures and other mementos. Most were in their 20s, but ranged in age from 21 to 43. "They died heroes," she said, wiping away tears. Juliann Ashcraft said she learned that her husband, Andrew, 29, was among the dead by watching the news with her four children. 7, the small, one-story base of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, the elite firefighting crew that lost 19 of 20 men as they were overcome Sunday by the swift, erratic Yarnell Hill Fire 30 miles to the south. Many flocked to Prescott Fire Station No. ![]() As firefighters tried to gain control over a stubborn, swelling wildfire near here Monday, this close-knit mountain town was trying to contain its grief. Watch Video: Wildfire expert: Yarnell 19 had no time to react ![]()
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