Introduction
The Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona was ignited by a lightning strike on June 28, 2013. Although starting small, it grew to at least 100 acres on the 29th, and fire response became more engaged as concerns grew about threats to nearby towns. On June 30th, the 20-man crew of the Granite Mountain Hotshots hiked into the fire area to establish an anchor point--an area that is unlikely to burn and therefore advantageous for anchoring a fire line. They did so and then began establishing a line along a nearby road. In the early afternoon, complex wind behaviors caused the fire to rapidly spread. There’s uncertainty about what occurred and why the crew behaved as they did, but the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew were caught by the fire sometime after 4:40 pm, likely while trying to reach Boulder Springs Ranch. They attempted to deploy their fire shelters, but all 19 (1 member of the crew had separated earlier to act as a lookout) died. The fire was contained the next day.
Resources
On the Burning Edge by Call Number: SD421.32.A6 .D53 2015ISBN: 9780553392128Publication Date: 2015-05-12" On June 28, 2013, a single bolt of lightning sparked an inferno that devoured more than eight thousand acres in northern Arizona. Twenty elite firefighters--the Granite Mountain Hotshots--walked together into the blaze, tools in their hands and emergency fire shelters on their hips. Only one of them walked out.... Drawing on dozens of interviews with officials, families of the fallen, and the lone survivor, he describes in vivid detail what it's like to stand inside a raging fire--and shows how the increased population and decreased water supply of the American West guarantee that many more young men will step into harm's way in the coming years." --publisher
The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and One of the Deadliest Days in American Firefighting by Call Number: SD421.32 .S26 2016ISBN: 9781250054029Publication Date: 2016-05-03"When a bolt of lightning ignited a hilltop in the sleepy town of Yarnell, Arizona, in June of 2013, setting off a blaze that would grow into one of the deadliest fires in American history, the twenty men who made up the Granite Mountain Hotshots sprang into action. An elite crew trained to combat the most challenging wildfires, the Granite Mountain Hotshots were a ragtag family, crisscrossing the American West and wherever else the fires took them... Impeccably researched, drawing upon more than a hundred hours of interviews with the firefighters' families, colleagues, state and federal officials, and fire historians and researchers[.]" --publisher
Articles marked IN-PERSON are available at the IFSI Library's physical location, and clicking on the link will take you to the catalog record. Those marked ONLINE can be directly accessed by clicking on the link.
- ONLINE - Granite Mountain Hotshots: The firefighting team that died battling the Yarnell Hill fireThis article from Fire Rescue 1 reviews what happened on Yarnell Hill, the memorials and remembrances of the community, and the impact of the fire.
- ONLINE - Fire Management Today - Fire Doctrine - Where Has All the Fire Doctrine Gone?This article, on pg. 4-6 of vol. 73, no. 3 of Fire Management Today, discusses the Fire Suppression Doctrine and its underlying principles in the context of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
- Outside - What We Learned from the Yarnell Hill Fire DeathsKyle Dickman, author of The Burning Edge, discusses the organization 'Honor the Fallen,' whose goal was to ensure Yarnell Hill resulted in a culture change in wildland firefighting and a greater acknowledgement of the inherent risks of the job.
- International Association of Wildland Fire - The Yarnell Hill Fire: A review of lessons learnedWildland fire management consultant Rich McCrea discusses how the Yarnell Hill Fire deaths are similar to other casualties from entrapment and advocates for a cultural shift towards "safety and working smart."
- AZcentral - Has Yarnell Hill Fire changed way crews fight fires?This article discusses how the shadow of Yarnell Hill loomed over the Slide Fire which occurred one year later.
- Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center - Yarnell Hill Fire Entrapment Fatalities 2013The Lessons Learned Center resources on the Yarnell Hill fire include a memorial book, the Serious Accident Investigation Report, and numerous documents from the Arizona Department of Occupational Health and Safety, along with other material.