Satu kebakaran hutan paling buruk dalam sejarah Amerika Syarikat berlaku di Arizona apabila 19 orang ahli bomba sukarela terbunuh dijilat api ketika memadamkan kebakaran semalam.
Mereka terperangkap dalam lalapan api menjulang yang tiba-tiba beralih ke arah mereka setelah angin bertukar arah tiba-tiba.
Kejadian berlaku ketika mereka sedang mengalihkan tempat perlindungan mereka dari bahang api ketika angin tiba-tiba mengancam mereka dengan api. Namun nyawa setiap mereka melayang setelah mereka terperangkap dalam lingkaran api yang akhirnya membaham mereka.
'TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE DARK DAY IN ARIZONA': 19 FIREFIGHTERS PERISH BATTLING DEADLIEST U.S. WILDFIRE IN 30 YEARS
Jun. 30, 2013 11:18pm Dave Urbanski
YARNELL, Ariz. (TheBlaze/AP) — 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 30 years.
KPNX-TV reported the crew was known as the Granite Mountain "hotshot" firefighters. The members 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 told The Associated Press.
Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo, his voice breaking at times, said that the 19 firefighters were a part of the city's fire department. One member of the crew was working in a different location and survived, Fraijo told KPNX-TV. The crew killed in the blaze had worked other wildfires in recent weeks in New Mexico and Arizona.
"By the time they got there, it was moving very quickly," he said.
He added that the firefighters had to deploy the emergency shelters when "something drastic" occurred.
"One of the last fail safe methods that a firefighter can do under those conditions is literally to dig as much as they can down and cover themselves with a protective – kinda looks like a foil type- fire-resistant material – with the desire, the hope at least, is that the fire will burn over the top of them and they can survive it," Fraijo said.
"Under certain conditions there's usually only sometimes a 50 percent chance that they survive," he said. "It's an extreme measure that's taken under the absolute worst conditions."
Prescott, which is more than 30 miles northeast of Yarnell, is one of the only cities in the United States that has a hot shot fire crew, Fraijo said. The unit was established in 2002, and the city also has 75 suppression team members.
The flames lit up the night sky in the forest above the town, and smoke from the blaze could be smelled for miles.
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