Report to detail blaze, deaths of 19 firefighters

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) — A highly anticipated report examining weather conditions, radio traffic and fire behavior, among other things, is expected to help explain how 19 members of an elite firefighting crew died while battling an Arizona wildfire. Officials, however, said it won't assign blame.

The Arizona State Forestry Division was set to present the roughly 120-page report to the men's families ahead of a news conference planned for Saturday morning in Prescott.

All but one member of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew died June 30 while protecting the small former gold rush town of Yarnell, about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix, from an erratic lightning-sparked wildfire.

Early reports showed the fire caused little immediate concern because of its remote location and small size when it began June 28. But the blaze quickly grew into an inferno, burning swiftly across pine, juniper and scrub oak and through an area that hadn't experienced a significant wildfire in nearly 50 years.

The 20-member Granite Mountain Hotshots team arrived early on the morning of June 30 and headed into the boulder-strewn mountains. About nine hours later, the crew radioed that they were trapped by flames and deploying emergency shelters. Only one crew member who was assigned as the lookout survived.

The fire ended up destroying more than 100 homes and burned 13 square miles before it was fully contained on July 10.

No other wildfire had claimed more firefighters in 80 years, and it was the deadliest single day for fire crews since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Granite Mountain team was unique among the nation's roughly 110 Hotshot crews as the first and only such unit attached to a municipal fire department.

It wasn't clear why the firefighters left the relative safety of a ridge top or if they had received warnings of the erratically changing weather that whipped the blaze into an unpredictable inferno when they dropped down into a bowl surrounded by mountains on three sides.

At one point, officials asked for half of the available western U.S. heavy air tanker fleet — six planes — to try to control the blaze. Five weren't deployed because of the limited number in the nation's aerial firefighting fleet and the dangerous weather conditions at the time. One plane was heading to Arizona from California but engine problems forced it to turn back.

Forestry officials have said that even if the planes had been available, winds were so strong they couldn't have been used to save the firefighters' lives.

Some family members hope the investigation will explain why their loved ones died. Others say it will do nothing to ease their pain.

"No matter what the report says, it won't bring him back," Colleen Turbyfill said of her son, Travis. "I miss him, and it's unbearable pain. It doesn't go away. Sometimes I can't breathe, but this report isn't going to help that one way or another."

Via Yahoo News!

Town mourns 19 firefighters killed in Ariz. blaze

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) — The firefighters walked down the bleachers in a silent gymnasium full of mourners, their heavy work boots drumming a march on the wooden steps.

They bowed their heads for moments of silence at the front of an auditorium that was so packed organizers had to send people outside for fear of violating the fire code. The burly men then hugged each other and cried at the end of a deeply emotional memorial Monday evening in the Arizona mountain town of Prescott.

More than 1,000 people gathered in the gymnasium on the campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as others throughout the state and beyond also mourned the deaths of the 19 Prescott-based firefighters killed Sunday outside nearby Yarnell. The day marked the nation's deadliest for fire crews since Sept. 11, 2001.

Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo spoke in a shaky voice at the memorial as he described throwing a picnic a month ago for the department's new recruits and meeting their families.

"About five hours ago, I met those same families at an auditorium," he said. "Those families lost. The Prescott Fire Department lost. The city of Prescott lost, the state of Arizona and the nation lost," he said before receiving a standing ovation as he left the podium.

For the 19 killed, violent wind gusts turned a lightning-caused forest fire into a death trap that left no escape.

In a desperate attempt at survival, the firefighters — members of a highly skilled Arizona-based Hotshot crew — had unfurled their foil-lined, heat-resistant shelters and rushed to cover themselves on the ground. But the success of the shelters depends on firefighters being in a cleared area away from fuels and not in the direct path of a raging fire.

Only one member of the 20-person crew survived, and that was because he was moving the unit's truck at the time.

The blaze grew from 200 acres to about 2,000 in a matter of hours, and Prescott City Councilman Len Scamardo said the wind and fire made it impossible for the firefighters to flee around 3 p.m. Sunday.

"The winds were coming from the southeast, blowing to the west, away from Yarnell and populated areas. Then the wind started to blow in, the wind kicked up to 40 to 50 mph gusts and it blew east, south, west - every which way," he said. "What limited information we have was there was a gust of wind from the north that blew the fire backed, and trapped them."

Authorities are investigating to figure out what exactly went wrong after the wind suddenly changed direction. Mary Rasmussen, a spokeswoman for the Southwest incident team, said Atlanta NIMO - National Incident Management Organization will be the lead in the probe and will aim to put out a report in the coming days with preliminary information.

The multi-agency group of investigators arrived Monday and was being briefed in Phoenix. Judith Downing, a spokeswoman for the taskforce, said they would go to the fire scene Tuesday.

Southwest incident team leader Clay Templin said the crew and its commanders were following safety protocols, and it appears the fire's erratic nature simply overwhelmed them.

The Hotshot team had spent recent weeks fighting fires in New Mexico and Prescott before being called to Yarnell, entering the smoky wilderness over the weekend with backpacks, chainsaws and other heavy gear to remove brush and trees.

In a heartbreaking sight, a long line of vans from a coroner's office carried the bodies of the 19 firefighters Monday from Yarnell to Phoenix for autopsies, as the fire burned out of control. It was zero percent contained and had burned 8,400 acres as a heat wave across the Southwest sent temperature soaring.

Yavapai County said an estimated 200 homes and other structures burned in Yarnell and hundreds of people have been evacuated.

About 200 firefighters arrived to the scorching mountains, doubling the number of firefighters battling the blaze, ignited by lightning. Many of them also were part of Hotshot crews.

In addition to the flames, downed power lines and exploding propane tanks continued to threaten what was left of the town, said fire information officer Steve Skurja. A light rain fell over the area but did little in helping crews gain the upper hand fire.

Arizona's governor called Sunday "as dark a day as I can remember" and ordered flags flown at half-staff.

"I know that it is unbearable for many of you, but it also is unbearable for me. I know the pain that everyone is trying to overcome and deal with today," said Gov. Jan Brewer, her voice catching several times as she addressed reporters and residents at Prescott High School in the town of 40,000.

Fraijo said he feared the worst when he received a call Sunday afternoon from someone assigned to the fire.

"All he said was, 'We might have bad news. The entire Hotshot crew deployed their shelters,'" Fraijo said. "When we talk about deploying the shelters, that's an automatic fear, absolutely. That's a last-ditch effort to save yourself when you deploy your shelter."

The 19 killed were Andrew Ashcraft, 29; Kevin Woyjeck, 21; Anthony Rose, 23; Eric Marsh, 43; Christopher MacKenzie, 30; Robert Caldwell, 23; Clayton Whitted , 28; Scott Norris, 28; Dustin Deford, 24; Sean Misner, 26; Garret Zuppiger, 27; Travis Carter, 31; Grant McKee, 21; Travis Turbyfill, 27; Jesse Steed, 36; Wade Parker, 22; Joe Thurston, 32; William Warneke, 25; and John Percin, 24.

___

Associated Press writers Bob Christie in Phoenix, Brian Skoloff in Yarnell, Felicia Fonseca in Prescott, and Martin Di Caro in Washington contributed to this report.

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Fire crews battle 5-alarm blaze in St. Louis

(CNN) -- About 500 people were evacuated and a portion of I-44 closed early Monday as St. Louis firefighters battled a five-alarm chemical fire, the city's fire chief said.

Three firefighters suffered minor injuries, Chief Dennis Jenkerson said.

The fire at Chemisphere Corp.'s west St. Louis storage yard involved tankers, rail cars and other storage tanks containing solvents, Jenkerson said. A Fire Department spokeswoman said the solvents were acetone and ethanol.

The fire was under control as of about 6 a.m. CT. But when firefighters arrived at about 2:30 a.m., "We had the whole yard going," Jenkerson said.

Because the materials were highly flammable and the heated storage tanks were at risk of exploding, police evacuated a three-block radius around the plant, Jenkerson said.

"We expected the worst," Jenkerson said. "We kept it from going that far."

He said fire crews were making sure all of the storage tanks were cool and that none were leaking before allowing residents to return.

Jenkerson said he was unsure when I-44 would reopen. Fire crews were using part of the highway, which sits above the fire site, as a staging area.

It's too early to say what started the fire, Jenkerson said.

Chemisphere was founded in 1976 as a solvent distribution company, but now is also engaged in the manufacture of personal care products such as ethanol-based hand sanitizers, industrial products and other materials, according to its website.

It can store up to 1.1 million gallons of chemicals at the site, according to the website.

CNN

Blaze second-largest in Arizona history

(CNN) -- A fast-moving wildfire that has sent thousands fleeing in eastern Arizona is the second-largest blaze in the history of the state, records show.

The so-called Wallow Fire sweeping through Apache National Forest has burned approximately 389,000 acres, Incident commander Joe Reinarz told reporters Tuesday.

That surpasses the 2005 Cave Creek wildfire previously ranked the second-largest blaze in Arizona history. It scorched 248,310 acres, according to records published on the Southwest Coordination Center regional interagency website.

The Rodeo/Chediski blaze of 2002, which burned 468,638 acres, was Arizona's largest wildfire, officials said.

Unless the low humidity rises and the high winds die down, the current blaze could continue to spread, fire officials warned. The National Weather Service issued a red flag alert for Wednesday along all but the northernmost tip of Arizona's eastern border. The alert puts the area at extreme risk for fire.

The weather service also issued a red flag alert for southwestern and northeastern New Mexico.

The forecast calls for 20 mph winds with gusts of up to 35 mph in Arizona, which could spark spot fires beyond the current containment zone and force the evacuation of more people.

"Further evacuations will come if this does not hold tonight," Reinarz said.

The fire has put 343 structures at risk, however only 10 have been destroyed so far, officials said.

As many as 3,000 additional people were evacuated Tuesday, a Red Cross official said. They join an estimated 2,700 others who've abandoned their homes in eastern Arizona.

U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl and his wife who were forced to leave their cabin in Greer because of the advancing fire, according to CNN affiliate KNXV.

Residents living south of State Highway 260 and east of Greer, including South Fork and parts of Eagar, were told to leave their homes, fire officials said.

Residents of Springerville, which is just north of the evacuation line, have been told they should be prepared to leave their homes.

"We're going to evacuate if they tell us to go," resident Lee Murdock told CNN affiliate KTVK. "There ain't nothing I own that's worth as much as the family."

Murdock said he's moved livestock to the fairgrounds in nearby St. Johns because of the advancing fire.

Meanwhile, firefighters struggled Tuesday to gain advantages over a blaze that produced dense plumes of smoke that were visible from space and thick enough to reduce visibility to less than a mile in some places, according to the National Weather Service.

Spillover smoke from the Arizona blaze disrupted flights and prompted an air quality alert in neighboring New Mexico on Tuesday. The weather service's air quality alert for Wednesday includes most of northwest New Mexico west of Interstate 25 and north of U.S. Highway 60.

New Mexico officials told residents in the town of Luna to be prepared to leave, according to Terri Wildermuth, a spokeswoman for the Incident Management Team overseeing firefighting efforts.

"I'm starting to feel like I've been chain-smoking and all my clothes smell like I've been camping," said CNN iReporter Eric Place, who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"Sometimes, not like huge flakes, but little ash particles, are visible."

In Arizona, the Red Cross has set up an evacuation center at a school in Lakeside.

So far, about 75 evacuees have checked into the shelter, said Weldon, though not everyone was expected to stay.

More than 2,000 firefighters are engaged in the fight against the fire, along with 20 helicopters, 141 fire engines, 46 water tenders and eight bulldozers, according to officials.

The blaze remained at 0% containment Tuesday night.

The National Weather Service warned critical fire weather, with low humidity and high winds, would continue at least through Wednesday in Arizona. The National Interagency Fire Center said similar conditions would heighten the risk of fires across the southwest, including Arizona, New Mexico, southeastern Colorado and west Texas.

Including Wallow, there are currently seven active wildfires burning across Arizona, according to InciWeb, an online state-by-state database of fires and other disasters. The Arizona wildfires also include three separate blazes that have consumed 165,017 acres in the Coronado National Forest. One of them has been burning since May 8, according to InciWeb.

CNN's Phil Gast, Dana Ford and Ben Smith contributed to this report.

CNN

Turtle sparks fast-moving blaze in NYC apartment

NEW YORK (AP) — Fire officials say a lumbering pet turtle sparked a fast-moving fire in a New York City apartment after crawling out of its tank and knocking over the terrarium's heat lamp.

Giovani, a 6-year-old African tortoise about the size of a soccer ball, survived. But officials say one firefighter and three police officers suffered smoke inhalation in Monday's fire in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Another turtle that lived in a water tank was killed.

The New York Post says both reptiles resided in their owner's bedroom. Eighteen-year-old Mohamed Salem and his family were not home at the time.

Fire officials say the heat lamp crashed to the floor, igniting a pile of art supplies, including thinner and paint. Within minutes, the Post reports, the fire spread through the third floor apartment.

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Turtle sparks fast-moving blaze in NYC apartment

NEW YORK (AP) — Fire officials say a lumbering pet turtle sparked a fast-moving fire in a New York City apartment after crawling out of its tank and knocking over the terrarium's heat lamp.

Giovani, a 6-year-old African tortoise about the size of a soccer ball, survived. But officials say one firefighter and three police officers suffered smoke inhalation in Monday's fire in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Another turtle that lived in a water tank was killed.

The New York Post says both reptiles resided in their owner's bedroom. Eighteen-year-old Mohamed Salem and his family were not home at the time.

Fire officials say the heat lamp crashed to the floor, igniting a pile of art supplies, including thinner and paint. Within minutes, the Post reports, the fire spread through the third floor apartment.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.