8:25 p.m. | Updates below | There's an enormous financial cost attending the expansion of America's "wildland-urban interface" — the term for areas where communities have sprouted in forested areas — in parts of the country prone to wildfires.
Now the cost in human lives has greatly risen in a single terrible event. On Sunday, 19 members of a special unit of the Prescott, Ariz., Fire Department, the Granite Mountain Hotshots, died fighting a raging blaze near the town of Yarnell.
A news article in The Times has the details and many valuable links. Here's an excerpt:
The firefighters died fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire near the town of Yarnell, about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix. Steve Skurja, a spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office, said there were "several fires still active" in the Yarnell area. In a search of the scene, Mr. Skurja said, crews found the bodies of the firefighters….
"This is as dark a day as I can remember," Arizona's governor, Jan Brewer, said in a statement. "It may be days or longer before an investigation reveals how this tragedy occurred, but the essence we already know in our hearts: fighting fires is dangerous work," she said. "When a tragedy like this strikes, all we can do is offer our eternal gratitude to the fallen, and prayers for the families and friends left behind. God bless them all." [Read the rest.]
[The Washington Post has published short profiles of the 19 firefighters.]
It seems appropriate to look back to a loss only slightly less horrific, when 13 firefighters were consumed in the Mann Gulch fire in Montana in August 1949. That disaster was chronicled with aching beauty by the Canadian songwriter James Keelaghan in "Cold Missouri Waters," performed here by Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky and Dar Williams:
The song serves as a suitable tribute to those who fell on Sunday, as well.
Here are some useful updates from Twitter:
Satellite Imagery Reveals Likely Cause of Wind Shift That Killed 19 Firefighters. http://t.co/NyMQgQm2lD Tom @Yulsman @DiscoverMag
— Andy Revkin (@Revkin) 2 Jul 13
Unfathomable heartbreak. You can donate to the families of the heroic Granite Mountain Hotshots here. http://t.co/2HNaopOSKG #PrayForArizona
— Don Willett (@JusticeWillett) 2 Jul 13
Who Are The Hotshots? A Wildland Firefighting Primer http://t.co/sIUtSKibhy – @NatGeo
— KQEDscience (@KQEDscience) 1 Jul 13
Outstanding 2012 @CronkiteNews profile of Granite Mountain Hotshots by @CDRadnovich & @CoryGalvan. http://t.co/2rDSVznq4X
— Cronkite School (@Cronkite_ASU) 1 Jul 13
Related: A 2012 Room for Debate feature explored the role of federal policies in amplifying and mitigating wildfire risk.
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