Tragedy in Arizona, Granite Mountain Hot Shots Killed in the Line of Duty

Numerous reports are coming in of a tragic fire called the Yarnell Hill fire, a lightning sparked blaze near Prescott Arizona, June 30, 2013. Preliminary reports are that 19 firefighters have perished and only 1 crew member has survived the blaze. Dry lightning and dangerous outflow accompanied with erratic fire behavior may be the cause of fire line deaths. It is way to early to tell the official cause of the line of duty deaths.

Monsoonal moisture has also arrived today July 1, 2013 over Southern California which may also sound the alarm for dry lightning concerns in the dry mountains and deserts of California. With dangerous outflows surrounding thunderstorms firefighters must use extreme caution since winds became unpredictable around these storms.

I was talking to retired Forest Service fire legend Will Spyrison the other day just about such tragedies and using LCES and other acronyms to keep firefighters safe. I told Will that in 1979 I came up with a simple acronym "STOP, to help me understand fire attack. "Stop" stands for: Size -Up, Think about alternatives, Observe fire weather and fire conditions, Predict Outcomes of attack methods, direct, in-direct or taking no action at all.

Of course we always want a safety zone and good anchor point to begin fire attack, but on occasion I found myself working in fuels that were way over my head, tinder dry, live to dead ratios of over 60% in very old and dangerous fuels. Spot fires were always a problem and I often times had an uncomfortable feeling just to back off a bit during fire attack and get a bigger picture of the fire.

Understanding daily fire weather patterns and fire regimes was also a great concern and still is a major consideration of mine on any fire.

Being young I used to jump on every fire without much thought. The older I got, the fires became much bigger, more difficult to fight, weather patterns have changed and fires are growing into unbelievable monsters with extreme rates of spread.

As a hot shot, I was told just to keep slamming in line, not to ask many questions and just listen to very basic directions. The more experience I got, I realized the only one really responsible for my life was myself. Yes crew continuity was a good thing, but some members lost site of weather, fuels, slope and fire spread concerns. Past history lessons are a really a good predictor of future fire line tragedies. So I delve into old fires and their history stories to better understand the future.

Will and I were discussing Inci-notes and other ways to keep firefighters safe. So it is with great sadness I read the news about the Granite Mountain Hot Shot Crew. This is a huge loss of life in an era where we discuss safety and fire weather in routine conversations.

Sometimes, "I hate to say it " just take some time to back off and let a dangerous fire make its run and just work on flanking actions. I know fighting fire aggressively is very important, unfortunately some times things just go tragically wrong even with highly trained crews.

With this being said, it is with my most sincere condolences for the families who have experienced such a tragic loss. We continue the fight for safety and hopefully something good will come out of this horrific tragedy.