God help these people and their families. You have to be a brave SOB to do that job.

Sounds like the entire department was wiped out trying to combat an out of control wildfire.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/30/us/arizona-missing-firefighters/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Sad. 19 people almost seems like someone fucked up or something happened they could not have foreseen.

SportsAndLady;1466263 wrote:Sad. 19 people almost seems like someone ****ed up or something happened they could not have foreseen.

I don't know a ton about wild fires, but I have heard if the wind shifts or something like that then these kinds of things can happen. With the heat being what it is in that part of the country I bet it is growing at warp speed with everything being so hot and dry.

lol Right said?

Seriously, this is fucking terrible.

...very sad. I know I wouldn't have the stones to do what those people do for a living.

RIP "the 19"

TedSheckler;1466278 wrote:lol Right said?

No. These fireman were not doing something stupid only for entertainment sake.

Hope this helps.

And I probably know even less but do you think that they are so used to being around fires without harm that they take the significant danger with a little less caution than called for.

Very sad happening.

Ironman92;1466295 wrote:And I probably know even less but do you think that they are so used to being around fires without harm that they take the significant danger with a little less caution than called for.

Very sad happening.

This is basically a special ops type of crew, from what I have heard.

Such sad news, makes me have even more respect for firefighters than I did before.

Ironman92;1466295 wrote:And I probably know even less but do you think that they are so used to being around fires without harm that they take the significant danger with a little less caution than called for.

Very sad happening.

The news has been saying this thing just got out of control quickly and overtook them. This crew they said had been recently fighting fires in NM and other parts of Arizona.

I don't think it was complacency so much as it sounds like the fire got on top of them faster than anyone expected and at that point you are a sitting duck with no way out.

Someone did point out that TV and the Movies make this kind of thing look easier than it really is, and that people don't understand necessarily how truly dangerous it is what these guys do. The Hot Shots are the navy seals of fire fighters.

I am not a firefighter and have no connection to them, but for whatever reason this story made me kind of sad. We take for granted first responders that run into harms way to help people, and having 19 (an entire unit) die at once just seems to kind of remind you how dangerous (but important) the work they do is. I know I couldn't do that.

Ironman92;1466295 wrote:And I probably know even less but do you think that they are so used to being around fires without harm that they take the significant danger with a little less caution than called for.

Very sad happening.

Did some more research on this..

These guys were what's called a hotshot crew. Basically the marines of firefighters. They specialize in going out to violent wildfires and putting them out.

Here's a quote from a CNN article:

Reportedly, during the Yarnell Hill fire, the crew got into a catastrophic situation where sudden, fierce winds created a wave of fire which caught them in a ridge, unable to retreat to any safe zones. They attempted to deploy these shelters, but either did not have enough time, or the fire was too intense to resist. Only one of the crew of 20 survived inside his shelter, as 19 of his brothers perished.

These are the shelters that is talking about.

Probably what it looked like for them:

[video=youtube;zvPa_yEEd4E][/video]

SportsAndLady;1466302 wrote:Did some more research on this..

These guys were what's called a hotshot crew. Basically the marines of firefighters. They specialize in going out to violent wildfires and putting them out.

Here's a quote from a CNN article:


These are the shelters that is talking about.

Thanks for all the info. I didn't mean to sound insensitive.

Ironman92;1466314 wrote:Thanks for all the info. I didn't mean to sound insensitive.

Didn't take it that way. Hell my first post on this thread basically blamed someone for messing up. Didn't realize these were the front line guys though, and just basically got caught in a terrible unfortunate situation.

Can't imagine being the one guy who survived in those green shelters.

SportsAndLady;1466317 wrote:
Can't imagine being the one guy who survived in those green shelters.

I heard on the radio he wasn't in the exact same area as the others.

said_aouita;1466355 wrote:I heard on the radio he wasn't in the exact same area as the others.

Correct, he was a lookout and was several miles away.