Without passing judgment, he saysthey acted on the best information they had at the time. Photos of the 19 fallen Granite Mountain Hotshot firefighters and Brendan McDonough, the lone survivor, in Prescott, Ariz., in 2013. A public memorial service was held in Prescott Valley on July 2, 2013. The exact same scenarios.. The Yarnell Hill Fire was a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by dry lightning on June 28, 2013. -USAToday.com, The Only the Brave true story confirms that 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots lost their lives on Sunday June 30, 2013 while battling the Yarnell Hill Fire. -AZCentral.com. Around 1550, the wind shifted and the fire started pushing aggressively to the southeast, toward Yarnell. This article incorporates public domain material from Yarnell Fire June 28 July 10, 2013. My hands were thick with the black soot that I knew contained trace amounts of the bodies of my friends.. Im trying not to go out in the media and say they did this to me and they did that to me. How the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots reached millions, Through the televised memorial service, books and big screen dramatization, countless Americans discovered the story of 19 fallen firefighters. "I think they trusted us when they saw how dedicated we were and how much we were willing to lend ourselves and how lazy we weren't. His firefighting career began in 2005, where he worked for the Prescott National Forest as a hotshot and worked on the Rodeo-Chediski Fire and many others until 2009. Chains connect each gabion basket, a symbol of the connection and teamwork of the hotshots. Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park was dedicated in 2016 as a place to remember the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshot Firefighters who were lost on June 30, 2013, while fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire. The good times, he said, were always overshadowed by the deaths. [49], The U.S. Forest Service released a series of videos on November 10, 2014, that were shot by wildland firefighters on the day of the Yarnell Hill tragedy. 19 jersey in honor of the fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? However, as with the Yarnell Hill Fire, the lightning still reaches the ground and sparks the dry tinder. Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park was created to honor the hotshots. In 2008, they became a hotshot crew (Crew 7) with their own firehouse where their equipment was kept. [6] On June30, winds blowing at over 22mph (35km/h) pushed the fire from 300 acres (120ha) to over 2,000 acres (810ha). Would she grow up toview her dad as a coward? The video shows the Granite Mountain Hotshots observing the fire from the safety of a ridge before they descended into a much more hazardous area. -USAToday.com. While we will never know exactly how the tragedy unfolded, there is still room to discuss lessons learned and consider tactics that could prevent similar burnovers. [11] By the end of the day on July3, the fire was reportedly 45percent contained and showing no signs of expanding, thus allowing Peeples Valley residents to return to their homes on July4. The movie implies that most of them had been at each other's side since the beginning. The second time, I was talking to my counselor, and I was just getting into some real heavy [stuff], really getting into the nitty-gritty of what makes my stress, my anxiety, my PTSD tick. Yarnell also killed more firefighters than any incident since 9/11. I felt like a failure because I couldn't support my daughter, because no one wanted to hire a felon. Served as a Board Member for the Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial Partnership since 2014 Activity The City of Tucson has been without a Director of Planning & Development Services since early 2022. The fact that there is such a large lapse of communication has led fire service to opine about their decision-making and whether the tragedy could have been prevented. We invite you to hike the trail to better understand the experience of these men as well as to appreciate the beauty of the town of Yarnell and the surrounding areas. We are preparing a deployment site and we are burning out around ourselves in the brush. The winds were driving the fire toward the hotshots at a rate of a quarter mile a minute, over 12 miles an hour, making it impossible to outrun. He fell in love with the idea of a brotherhood. The. Well, kind of, Video shows Memphis jailers beating Black inmate before his death, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, 15 arrested across L.A. County in crackdown on fraudulent benefit cards, Latinx Files: In praise of Jenna Ortega, Aubrey Plaza and moody, deadpan Latinas. A hotshot contains an inferno buy using fire to burn a line through the fire's fuel path. The first time they came at me, they just said come on down for lunch and lets talk. I told someone and he said, Hell [expletive] no. On June 30, 2015 2 years after the deaths of the hotshots Arizona State Parks purchasedthe 320-acre plot of land that was the site of the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire. -AZCentral.com, Erratic winds reaching more than 22 mph, temperatures over 100 F, drought conditions, and the topography caused the fire to spread quickly in an unpredictable fashion. Lexipol. His responses have been edited for clarity and length. No. He walked down the slope, and touched the char-covered dirt where the investigators had been. "I'm man enough and willing enough to admit that, hopefully to show people that it's OK to struggle," he said. He has a child on the way with his girlfriend and is looking to turn his life around. All rights reserved. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had to stop making so many public appearances. "[50] In its coverage of these videos, Outside magazine posted and article and video excerpts. As depicted in the movie, they fought fires like the 2011 Horseshoe 2 Fire in southern Arizona. Chris MacKenzie, who was hard on him early on, became a close friend and roommate. (Note: A hotshot crew is a nationally available, intensively trained 20-person hand crew focused primarily on handline construction.) McDonough onFriday tried to end the speculation. "I don't think there's ever a way I could go back to fire to be honest, I'm scared.". McDonough was stunned. 6.7K views The books will hit the shelvesas the thirdanniversary nears of the deadliest blazefor firefighters since 9/11. [47], Outside magazine released the documentary film, The Granite Mountain Hotshots and the Yarnell Hill Fire (August 12, 2013), in which friends, relatives, and colleagues (including Brendan McDonough, the lone survivor of the Granite Mountain Hotshots) speak out. Each of the 19 hotshots who died had deployed an emergency fire shelter (pictured below), but not all of the deceased were found inside them. A key finding in the report: Although much communication occurred among crews throughout the day, few people understood Granite Mountains intentions, movements, and location, once they left the black. You must enable JavaScript in your browser to view and post comments. He torethrough the brush and the other crew,anticipating hed need a ride out, rescued him. Brian Frisby and other Blue Ridge Hotshots tried to rescue the trapped Granite Mountain crew, but intense flames and heat kept them from getting to the men. I probably would have continued doing drugs, I probably would have ended up in prison or with an overdose - or dead. -AZCentral.com As the fire was closing in, Eric Marsh's voice came over the radio, "Yeah, I'm here with Granite Mountain Hotshots. [17] Initial reports indicated that one of the firefighters was not a member of the hotshot crew (IHC), but Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo later confirmed that all 19 were in league with the Granite Mountain Hotshots. More information had come out that showed [the 19 dead firefighters] didnt make the mistakes they were accused of. On June 28, 2013, a lightning storm ignited the Yarnell Hill Fire in the high desert northwest of Phoenix. Before he found the Granite Mountain Hotshots, McDonough was a Southern California skater kid who ran with the wrong crowd, skipped school and smoked marijuana. The smoke was too thick to see clearly. Ive learned to just talk and listen, listen to peoples grief. The 116-page report offers the teams analysis, conclusions and recommendations. I cried myself to sleep the first four or five nights and dreamed of the day Id make enough money to buy a big house for them all to live together. . "The Yarnell Hill Fire was pretty tragic because an entire Hotshot crew, the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew, perished in that fire," Mason said. Ultimately, the movie sticks to the true story here. 2023 www.azcentral.com. McDonough contacted the Granite Mountain Hotshots' team by radio to let them know of his situation. No, I do care. Instead, the filmmakers have the Steinbrink character pulling double duty at times, likely in an effort to trim down the number of characters in the movie and to make Jeff Bridge's role more substantial. The roar of the fire was huffing behind me, growing louder and shriller, he writes. She joined the Lexipol team in 2019 and has 15 years of experience infire service media and publishing. Additionally, Outside magazine released the documentary The Granite Mountain Hotshots and the Yarnell Hill Fire in August 2013. I took each one and pictured the face of the man it belonged to and held that picture for a moment before relinquishing it, he writes. [Read next:How the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots reached millions]. [5], At around 5:36p.m. MST (23:36 UTC) on June 28, 2013, a spell of dry lightning ignited a wildfire on Bureau of Land Management lands near Yarnell, Arizona, a town of approximately 700residents located about 80 miles (130km) northwest of Phoenix. When youve been left behind as a child, that pain never leaves you, he writes. I couldn't even get a job at McDonald's flipping burgers. -AZCentral.com, Not exactly. [3], On June 30, wildland firefighters with the Prescott Fire Department's interagency Granite Mountain Hotshots were overrun and killed by the fire. The Only the Brave true story reveals that, like in the movie, the wildfire was caused by a lightning strike on June 28, 2013, approximately 1.5 miles from Yarnell, Arizona. [35] Vice President Joe Biden, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, and the team's lone surviving firefighter, Brendan McDonough, spoke at a memorial in Prescott on Tuesday, July9. Yes. Some didnt take their phones into the fire. How accurate is the movie'Only the Brave'? He figured shed be better off without him. So wereburned-over areasknown as the black, which can keep firefighters safe because they no longer have fire fuel. No one knows why the hotshots decided to leave the safety of a black area and descend into the canyon, and the film doesn't try to guess. "It's real life. We invite you to hike the trail to better understand the experience of these men as well as to appreciate the beauty of the town of Yarnell . He is also a veteran of the American Middle West, with stints in Iowa City and Des Moines, Iowa. SEE MORE:How accurate is the movie'Only the Brave'? [7] A long-term drought affecting the area contributed to the fire's rapid spread and erratic behavior, as did temperatures of 101F (38C). Under federal law, federal disaster relief is not available if there is insurance, and FEMA said: "damage to uninsured private residences from this was not beyond the response and recovery capabilities of the state (and) local governments and voluntary agencies.

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