Too much stock is incorporated in these fire shelters. There is a time when it’s just time to get out. The Captain of this fire team should have known this. To stay and be in peril is not an option. You may be working to save homes and a forest but there was no human life in danger!
Structures are not worth loss of life!
That said prayers for the families of these brave souls!
The wind was really strong yesterday, blowing in all sorts of directions, changing all the time. I *imagine* it was like that down there, too, and just overcame them WAY too fast.
These guys were SO highly trained I doubt ??? their superior would’ve let them be compromised.
But...I know nothing about the procedures...
Spoke with a fellow that used to be with this Hot Shot group about eight years ago. He had worked with two men who perished.
The group was working in winds that were just over five mph and had been there working Yarnell all afternoon with good success.
They were unfortunately working an area of steep grade when a monsoon storm came in. The winds changed direction and went up six fold to thirty miles per hour. At the same time one member was off trying to reposition there truck. He was the only one to survive.
Whether that repositioning prevented a man stationed higher I do not know but the fire turned and came on them faster than they could run up hill was this fellows best guess from having worked similar fires.
The fire when turning north would endanger an entire new area with a community beyond. Were they brave and confident? We wouldn’t want them any less. These things always have the tactics investigated forensically and that will happen here. However it is early to claim their positioning less than unfortunate at this point.
My husband had some training by hotshots in the 1990s. He told me that the hotshots told him the personal shelters only offer a very slim chance of survival and but made it easier to recover bodies. :(
This is a very close knit community. Please pray for Prescott and the remaining firefighters.