This evening - trapped in Yarnell Hill Fire.


Devastation here in Arizona.

RIP, brave men.

So sad. It's been a horrible year for firefighters. We had our worst tragedy ever here in Houston earlier this summer with four firefighters dying in a hotel fire.

With wildfires becoming more and more prevalent in our changing weather patterns, I wonder if (a) we can work harder on developing new technologies/chemicals to treat these fires from above without sending so many firefighters into lethal ground maneuvers. And (b) I wonder if huge new chunks of America will become barren deserts - forests that are now charred ruins. I realize that nature will adapt and re-grow but it's still sad to see daily evidence of these disasters (such as what you see when you now drive near Bastrop, Texas on the drive from Houston to Austin).

One graduated from App State....
terrible that it was one day shy of four North Carolina Air National Guardsmen killed flying and fighting Western forest fires
a year ago.....one of those four graduated from App State.
Just trying to put a human touch on this. Too many are dying fighting these fires.
There should be some breakwaters, or other things done to prevent fires from being able to get so bad.
RIP those 19, and the 4 from last year.

Just underscores that fighting wildland fires is a dangerous job. Still remember the group that was killed fighting a fire on Storm King Mtn. near Glenwood Springs, CO in the late 90s.

Awful.

Terrible.

(07-02-2013 06:09 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  One graduated from App State....
terrible that it was one day shy of four North Carolina Air National Guardsmen killed flying and fighting Western forest fires
a year ago.....one of those four graduated from App State.
Just trying to put a human touch on this. Too many are dying fighting these fires.
There should be some breakwaters, or other things done to prevent fires from being able to get so bad.
RIP those 19, and the 4 from last year.

Great App State from AGS/CS went to school with him.

The Yarnell Hill fire blew up from a few hundred acres to several thousand in an hour.

Winds picked up to 50+ mph, and worse, shifted direction, trapping the firefighters who previously were on the back side of the fire.

The area, which is extremely rugged, steep, rocky had not burned for 40 years. Combine with a 10-year drought, and record heat - a disaster.