The hotshots reported for duty at 8:00 am. Wade Parker, 22, was the son of a local fire captain. That process will be repeated with the Yarnell fire tragedy. Since 2000, the average has been closer to 2700. In late June, 19 firefighters from the Granite Mountain Hotshots died while fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona. Fatigue may have contributed to the poor decision-making, according to the report, which states that mistakes were not intentional, "but a function of an overwhelming and understaffed situation." You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io, Surprise! The climate and fuel conditions on June 30 were such that commonly used firefighter references would have predicted "an elevated potential for large, rapidly growing, and difficult to manage fires," according to the report. In the 1980s, about 600 American homes were lost to wildfires in an average year. Heavy air flows through complex topography the way that water would, and creates complicated wind patterns, including outflows, the outdoor equivalent of what city firefighters know as a backdraft: a rush of fresh air that feeds and propels the flames. By mid-to-late June, a hot, high-pressure system typically builds to the north. However, a small but growing number of American communities are taking other lessons from the Australian strategy. Six hundred firefighters were working an 8400-acre blaze that was just 8 percent contained. If the temperature directly outside the shelter reaches 500 F, the glue holding the layers of material together breaks down and the insulating air gap between them is compromised. That stance worked better before the mass migration into the chaparral, the grasslands, and the forests that has taken place over the past several decades, he says. But the discussion shouldn't stop there. Yarnell, for instance, was surrounded by low desert scrub, much of it dead growth that was preserved from year to year by the arid climate. From the ridge the men could see the vulnerable homes in Glen Ilah below them—the houses they'd been working all day to protect. A few weeks after the tragedy, scientists from the Pacific Biodiversity Institute in Washington state conducted a limited analysis of the area's homes. Earth Has a Secret Hidden Layer, The Differences Between Flash and Normal Floods, Whoops, Humans Made a Space Barrier Around Earth, Why Mt. The fire began Friday, officials said, and most likely was caused by lightning on Yarnell Hill, which overlooks the small community of about 700, many of them retirees. Between 1990 and 2008 there were about 17 million homes built in the United States. What made this home burn and not the others, I wondered. It wasn't until McDonough was off the hill that he looked back up at his lookout spot. Stephen Pyne's home weathered the Wallow Fire that burned 540,000 acres in eastern Arizona in 2011. Throughout Sunday afternoon, 19 of the hotshots worked establishing fire lines high in the rocky, scrub-filled hills about 11/2 miles west of Glen Ilah. The next morning, after county authorities documented the scene, Willis and fellow firefighters—including Danny Parker, the father of one of the victims, Wade Parker—personally transported the men, whose remains had been draped with American flags, back to town. Though it's clear that the hotshots were aware of the forecast calling for high winds moving in their direction, there is no indication that any of them hesitated before descending the slope. The Yarnell Hill fire -- which killed all but one member of a 20-strong 'hotshot' team -- was the biggest loss of firefighters' lives since the September 11 attacks, and the most from a US wildfire in 80 years. What if the home had been built from the ground up to resist fire—would that have made a difference? Due to the dangerous terrain and the small amount of fire seen at that point, officials said the decision was made not to … Arizona, Brendan McDonough, Yarnell Fire The largest remaining question about the Yarnell Hill Fire that killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshot … “In late June, 19 firefighters from the Granite Mountain Hotshots died while fighting the Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona. Yarnell remained evacuated, but authorities hope to allow residents back in by Saturday. Instead, he said he went to a funeral and dealt with a bout of flu. Programs like Firewise may only be the start. The exact circumstances of their deaths will be pieced together from forensic evidence, which at press time was being analyzed—along with the chain of decisionmaking that led up to their final moments—by an independent investigative team appointed by the Arizona State Forestry Division. A more palatable step for many people would be for vulnerable communities to speed the adoption of urban-style building codes and zoning rules. The landscape was just waiting to ignite. Popular Mechanics participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. "I believe that they felt that they weren't doing good where they were," he said. Finally, they clustered close together inside their safety zone, and the men deployed their emergency shelters. Both he and his supervisors could see the edge of the active fire to the north, and could tell that the wind had changed direction. The Yarnell Hill Fire was ignited by lightning on June 28, 2013. "The captain said to expect 180-degree wind shift and that we could expect gusts up to 50 to 60 mph," McDonough later told the Prescott Daily Courier. By mid-afternoon, there had been accounts of flames 40 feet high, moving at 16 miles per hour. Once the procession had passed, the PR folk handed out green Nomex pants, canary-yellow shirts, and matching helmets—the same clothing worn by firefighters. On a ridgetop to the north, closer to the active fire, was the last member of the team, 21-year-old Brendan McDonough. The area hadn’t burned in 47 years, so thick brush combined with extreme drought, high temperatures, and low humidity combined to strengthen the blaze. Everest and the Alps Are Getting Taller, Avoid These 11 Prickly Plants at All Costs, Geologists Resurrect the Missing Tectonic Plate. What the country may need to ask is how well residents of such communities are preparing for the inevitable. And requests by the media to obtain the autopsy reports, which are typically public records, were rejected by Yavapai … After each of those disasters, officials tried to improve the tools and tactics of firefighting to prevent further deaths. At 4:47 pm, Air Attack reported what no incident commander ever wants to hear: "Have a deployment—unknown how many shelters at this time," the air crew told their supervisors. The two state investigations into the deaths of 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots released to the public in 2013 did not include the complete autopsy and toxicology reports of the men who were killed on June 30, 2013 in the Yarnell Hill Fire. They were mopping up—methodically treating remaining hot spots that might be prone to reignition if the wind were to pick up. 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