McKee, Caldwell, Woyjeck and the rest of the crew started deploying their shelters. We are preparing a deployment site and we are burning out around ourselves in the bush and I’ll give you a call when we are under the sh-, the shelters.” With the sound of chainsaws in the background, Marsh broke in: “Our escape route has been cut off. In one hour, the fire had nearly doubled in size, burning through some 2,500 acres. Then, a static-filled Hotshot voice came through: The crew needed air support. Crowded frequencies had resulted in garbled transmissions. But 700 yards of boulders and brush still separated the men from the ranch’s safety.Īt 4:39, radios crackled unintelligibly. In minutes, the wildfire burned through much of the area the Hotshots had taken nearly a half-hour to push through. Gusts estimated at 50 mph sent a hail of black ash and burning embers. Within 9 minutes, a wall of roiling smoke already higher than any mountain on the planet shot up to nearly 39,000 feet. Protected by nothing more than black helmets and soot-covered yellow flame-resistant shirts, the team started descending.įor nearly 30 minutes, the Yarnell Hill Fire didn’t advance much on the Hotshots. Regardless, the move meant hiking the ridge and then navigating boulder fields and chaparral while humping 35 pounds of gear, including chainsaws, in triple-digit heat. Their plan may have been to re-engage the fire. Reviewing maps, photos, interviews and other data, it appears that the 19 Hotshots aimed to drop down 1.6 miles to a “bomb proof” safety zone at Boulder Springs Ranch. Changing conditions would turn winds toward the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots, including Grant McKee, 21, of Newport Beach Robert Caldwell, 23, McKee’s cousin and Kevin Woyjeck, 21, of Seal Beach. The 28-year-old wrote, “The fire is running at Yarnell!”īut the flames weren’t only heading toward Yarnell. Shortly before 4 p.m., Hotshot Scott Norris texted his mother a photo of a massive wall of flames. ![]() An operational-section chief understood the same thing, confirming the crew was “in a good place.”īut a five-month investigation by the occupational safety division concluded that confusion wasn’t only at the top management levels. ![]() The lookout reported that he understood his Hotshot brothers to be in a “black zone” – a safe area already burned. Within 15 minutes, his tiny clearing was consumed by 40-foot flames. As the 21-year-old, nicknamed “Donut,” reached the grader, a supervisor driving a utility terrain vehicle spotted McDonough and picked him up. Confident that it was move or die, Brendan McDonough headed toward a clearing near an old grader.
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