Who They Were: The ‘Granite Mountain Hotshots’ – 19 Brave Souls Who Perished in Arizona Fire

The best of our people: God bless their souls. Our prayers for their families in this hour of unimaginable anguish. And our prayers to those still battling this hell on Earth on the ground in Arizona at this very hour. Please leave your condolences for these remarkable volunteers below.

Gusty, hot winds blew an Arizona blaze out of control Sunday in a forest northwest of Phoenix, overtaking and killing 19 members of an elite fire crew in the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least 80 years – and the worst since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001/

Members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were forced to deploy their fire shelters – tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from flames and heat – when they were caught near the central Arizona town of Yarnell, state forestry spokesman Art Morrison reported. However the flames were too intense even for these emergency measures, and 19 of 20 firefighters perished.

Stand With Arizona is not going to release the names of those who perished at this time out of respect for their families. But we wanted to give our readers some idea of who these brave souls were. Some of those who died today can be seen in the photos and video below. God bless them all.Continue…

2013-06-30