America Burning: The Yarnell Hill Tragedy and the Nation's Wildfire Crisis

there's a problem that the nation needs to look at trying to solve fires are getting bigger and more extreme since the South Canyon fire in '94 there have been 400 Wildland firefighters killed and 40,000 homes lost he sent me a text message going to a 500 acre fire in yell and that was the last time I heard from him Granite Mountain is Granite Mountain still in there I could just see all these wives just crying es cut off we are preparing a deployment site I found out that people that I love [Music] died the Wildland fire scene has changed dramatically in the urban setting there's really no place for open fire urban sprawl is colliding with wildlands that matters because these two don't mix fires in one don't belong in the other we're losing property we're losing lives because people are choosing to live there this terrain will easily you know produce a 40t flame length people are in danger now because the climate has shifted on us in the desert Southwest it's getting dri and drier every year the fires are burning hotter and they're burning faster if some of the climate change models play out as predicted we're going to see the fires move to where the houses are and at that point it's a real game Cher there is really no way to protect those structures under extreme conditions this is the equivalent of a tornado coming through why are you sending people in to protect cowes there's nothing they're going to be able to do until those conditions [Music] change the Yarnell Hill fire started by a lightning strike high up on a Mountain Desert Ridge the fire smoldered throughout that night there were several small fire started in the desert Southwest the atmosphere is so dry that these big raining thunderstorms all evaporate before it even hits the ground but the lightning Sparks all this dry Tinder and you've got a wildfire in an instant one of the crews that was dispatched early on the morning of June 30th was the Granite Mountain Hot Shots Hot Shots are a very highly trained group of about 20 people and their job is to go into Wildfire situations and bring wildfires under control fire oper all three fire and oper it was a Sunday so we were hoping that Robert wouldn't have to go to work I could tell that he was not happy to have to get up so early that morning I kind of watched him get his boots on and he kissed me goodbye when they have early mornings like that sometimes I can manage to actually get up with him and visit for a few minutes while he drinks some coffee or whatever but that morning I didn't so I think he probably left about 5:00 I could hear him walk down to my kids' rooms and gave them a kiss told them he L them and gave me a kiss goodbye and told me he loved me and he walked out the door that was the last that I saw him we got a briefing that we're going to Yarnell for a lightning fire it was really not that active it was kind of just uh kind of just skunking around if anything I thought oh he's going to be home early tonight it's a local fire it's a little fire it's not a big deal you know we had started hiking in and it was hot it 10:00 and I was sweating hard different than normal we dug line did some saw work in there Hot Shots don't typically carry water hoses they're not going out there and putting the fire out in the sense that a fire department would put the fire out at a house they carry different types of hand tools to clear shrubs or trees or brush and create Open Spaces that can help stop the progress of a fire came around met back up with Eric and that's when he asked me to be the lookout they had seen a point down low where I could really get some good eyes on it and had a good way out good safety zone for if anything were to turn South that day I could see the fire and see what it was doing and it was just really progressing away from us the fire was over in this hill over here sunny and Joy are local residents in the Yarnell area who happened to be hiking that afternoon before ran Mountain Hot Shots even arrived so we just uh did our climb up the hilltop of Yarnell and we finally did find the fire and we saw a lead fire crew we weren't too concerned about it early on because the fire wasn't that bad about 3 hours into my Lookout position is when uh the weather came over the radio he tells me the wind shift we're going to get wind possibility as high as 50 m let's move quick 43 M hour wind gust coming from the complete opposite direction now the Flames are coming right for them I could feel the breeze coming that way and that was scary because if you watch the fire going up that mountain it was doing 30 and 40 foot waves and fire tornadoes for me that was kind of alarming when that wind shifted the concern had turned to me because of my proximity to the fire uh maybe I ought to pick you up let's uh let's just get him off the hill I remember looking back before I left and seeing what the fire was doing I see this intense fire starting to pick up it's going pretty fast yeah it is it went from like a white calm smoke to like a black smoke black usually means it's burning pretty intense it was a full-fledged Wildfire was no longer human containable as far as I was concerned I'm moving pretty quick I get a hold of Steen Eric and I let him know hey at the at the vehicle I'll see you soon at about 3:30 in the afternoon the granite Mount Hot Shots are located in a safety zone high up on a ridge overlooking in the town of yell and it was a safety zone because it's an area where the fire had already burned through that's called being in the black one of the operation supervisors radios the Granite Mountain Hot Shot crew leaders and asks the crew whether they could deploy resources down to Yarnell the Granite Mountain Hot Shot crew leader responds and says no we're staying here we got good black we're not moving anywhere but the videotape captures a conversation about the Comfort level about some sort of action that's getting ready to take place oh I just I was just saying I knew this was coming when I called you and asked how what your comfort level was I could just feel it you know moments later the Hot Shot crew decides to leave the safety zone and move down into what is clearly a very dangerous situation why would they change their mind well that's a big big question that I think a lot of people are going to be debating for years to come once they enter into that draw they can no longer see directly what the fire is doing and at that time there's nobody looking out for that could have told them that that fire is about to turn the corner so what they see is a huge flame front starting up towards them taking in on 16 the it's moving like 12 miles an hour and that's too fast out run once it goes I mean it there's no stopping it there it's almost impossible to stop unless they've got those uh huge airplanes or [ __ ] that's the only thing can slow and that only slows it down a Attack Grand m s how do you copy me the division soup is trying to bring a huge aircraft to drop some retardant someplace close to his [Music] crew the hot shots are cut off the question is where's the crew at is Grand still in there the Ops people want to drop but they're saying they don't know where the crew is division alpha bravo 33 I need you to pay attention and and tell me when you hear the aircraft okay cuz it's going to be a little tough for us to see you I hear saw that's you could hear saws in the background so there's starting to saw out some brush to clear an area to deploy their fire shelers okay Grandma S sounds like they got some trouble go ahead and get that trying to get you on the radio let's go ahead and see what we got going on okay I'm here with mountain Hot Shot our Escape Route has been cut off we are preparing a deployment site and we are burning out around ourselves in the brush and I'll give you a call when we are under the the shelters okay copy that fire shelters can withstand radiant heat but if the flame touches the shelters it'll melt a hole in it and Expos the firefighters to intense heat if a wild firefighter has to start to consider deploying a shelter it's a situation where things have really gotten out of control the fact that they had to do that obviously was a serious situation and took my awareness to what was happening to a new level one of the operations Chiefs told me did you hear what happened Granite Mountain deployed I had pretty much pulled myself out was just listening and praying for their safety at that point in time I got a call from a very good friend of mine and she had kind of told me what was on the news I was hoping the media just had it wrong found out that I was supposed to meet at a designated location I actually called Desiree and she said to meet at the school by the time I got there I still didn't know what happened exactly but obviously I knew it was bad a lot of like my friends Robert's friends were like crying their eyes out was like what happened and nobody knew anything they were just crying I mean to get that kind of reaction out of that many people it's bad I grabbed the presc firefighter and I said is my husband alive and he just said what's your name and I told him my name and he like just shook his head and he said no the original report was 18 had perished and then uh a few minutes later they confirmed that there were [Music] 19 right below is where 19 Heroes yeah fence off the side is where they passed away where the white is down there we've been hiking it because we want to get to the the bottom of this thing and the truth of this whole deal this is a roll of tape that had burned into a ball it was probably a Remnant role kind of sad that they didn't get a hold of this fire early on that's you know my opinion about the thing the mystery of what happened hinges on why the crew left the ridge in a burned area and went down into a Box Canyon filled with Boulders and brush what they hope to achieve why they abandoned many of the sort of fundamental tactics that are taught I don't know why and none of the investigative reports have come up with an explanation yet you know nature doesn't care about this fire is just going to do whatever its circumstances allow the way you control fire is by controlling what is out there so we're going to have a lot more fire in the landscape unless you take control of the landscape itself my kids are three and four so I didn't want to give a lot of detail they don't need it um I told them that Daddy had an accident at work and that he was in heaven and was not able to come home it wasn't somebody's home it was somebody's well-being that he would have been willing to die for he would he would have done anything so that somebody wouldn't have to go through pain like that you know he was a very remarkable human being the most I've ever met in my life I knew it would have probably thought so too these men changed my life life for the better for the best their goal was to make me and everyone on that crew and everyone they surrounded themselves with the best person they can be inside and outside of work you know that saying time flies when you're having fun well I really look forward to the day that I get to be in heaven with my husband but if I don't have fun it's going to be a long time so if we all have as much fun as we can and try to live good lives then I'll get to heaven and I'll get to be with my husband again we can't rest on our Laurels anymore I mean we've gotten to a point where these events are becoming so extreme it's a call to action this is a unprecedented loss in Wildfire fighting 19 people unless we get a better handle on how fire crews are going to operate in these very very dangerous situations the scenario can happen again do you see this getting [Music] worse can only hope and pray it [Music] doesn't [Music]

Channel: Weather Films

Views: 602,644

Keywords: Wildfire (Type Of Fire), yarnell, arizona, Firefighter (Occupation), Firefighting (Conservation Activity), Environmentalism (Political Ideology), Southwestern United States (Region), Climate Change (Website Category), granite mountain hotshots, Yarnell Hill Fire, United States Of America (Country)

Id: begTiksUwqc

Length: 16min 39sec (999 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 30 2013