Posted on 07/24/2013 8:11:16 PM PDT by UB355
YARNELL, Ariz. — The location sits in a basin surrounded on three sides by charred, boulder-strewn mountains. Blackened cactuses appear as if they melted in the flames. Rocks the size of pickup trucks are perched precariously on the steep hillsides. An American flag flaps in the wind near a Granite Mountain Hotshots T-shirt that hangs on a burned cactus as a makeshift memorial to the men who died there.
Authorities provided a tour Tuesday of the location where 19 elite firefighters, known as Hotshots, were engulfed in flames last month while protecting a former gold rush town in Arizona from a volatile wildfire.
The site provides perspective of the terrain crew members faced as they found themselves trapped by a wall of fast-moving flames while erratic winds whipped the blaze in all directions.
Officials speculated the fire quickly shifted toward them, forcing the men to retreat into the bowl beneath the mountains, the hillsides way too steep to even attempt to outrun the flames.
(Excerpt) Read more at firerescue1.com ...
God bless them. I just have no words.
Rest in Peace, Heroes.
God bless them. They are with Jesus and their cares are over.
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