19 in one go.. absolutely terrible. i swear i can't think of a worse way to go. must take balls of steel doing waht they do. poor fellas RIP
The dead firefighters were identified as members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew, shown here in an undated photo
Flames on a ridge in the Yarnell Hill fire on Sunday.
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Crew of 19 elite firefighters killed in Arizona wildfire
Only one survivor from hotshot unit trained to venture into remote areas, which was overtaken by rapidly moving blaze
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guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 July 2013 05.35 BST
Flames on a ridge in the Yarnell Hill fire on Sunday.
Flames on a ridge in the Yarnell Hill fire on Sunday. Photograph: Tom Story/AP
Nineteen firefighers have died in Arizona after being caught in one of the deadliest wildfires in the US for decades, which destroyed scores of homes and forced the evacuation of two small towns north-west of Phoenix
The specially trained "hotshot" firefighters were forced to deploy their fire shelters – tent-like structures meant to shield them from flames and heat – when they were caught near an Arizona town, state forestry spokesman Art Morrison told the Associated Press.
"The entire hotshot crew had been killed by the fire," Prescott fire chief Dan Fraijo said.
"We're devastated," he said at a news conference on Sunday evening. "We just lost 19 of the finest people you'll ever meet."
Morrison told CNN: "In normal circumstances, when you're digging fire lines, you make sure you have a good escape route, and you have a safety zone set up. Evidently, their safety zone wasn't big enough, and the fire just overtook them. By the time the other firefighters got in, they didn't survive."
"This is as dark a day as I can remember," state governor Jan Brewer said in a statement. "It may be days or longer before an investigation reveals how this tragedy occurred, but the essence we already know in our hearts: fighting fires is dangerous work."
Yarnell Hill Fire A wildfire burns homes in the Glenn Ilah area near Yarnell, Arizona.
A wildfire burns homes in Yarnell, Arizona.
Arizona mourning 19 firefighters killed in wildfireAn Arizona town is mourning 19 firefighters killed on Sunday battling a ferocious wildfire about 80 miles (130km) north-west of Phoenix.
Residents of Prescott, where the crew was based, said they were numb and shaken by the loss of firefighters from an elite "hotshots" wildfire unit.
President Barack Obama said he was "heartbroken" and called the deceased firefighters "heroes".
It is the highest death toll for a fire crew in a single incident since 9/11.
The fire, which remains entirely uncontained, was sparked by lightning on Friday and has spread rapidly amid high heat, low humidity and strong winds. It has grown to 8,000 acres (3,200 ha), destroyed about 200 homes and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents.
In Tanzania on Monday, Mr Obama said Americans' thoughts and prayers were with the firefighters' families.
"This is one more reminder of the fact that our first responders, they put their lives on the line every single day," Mr Obama said.
'It's my community'
As the sun rose in the smoke-clouded sky on Monday, residents of Prescott, Arizona, placed flowers and signs on a fence near the fire station.
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image of David Shukman At the scene David Shukman Science editor, BBC News
One of the first people we met near the scene of the fire was a utility worker who couldn't help crying - one of the 19 dead firefighters turned out to be the son of a friend. Another local man told me he had no idea if his house had been spared.
From behind a roadblock, we can watch a vast cloud of smoke rise and spread. Even from several miles away, flames are occasionally visible. Firefighting planes swoop through the haze. Searing heat, strong gusts of wind and the risk of lightning are keeping everyone on edge.
Flags are flying at half-mast in nearby Prescott. The average age of the firefighting team was just 22. This is an unimaginably shocking loss. But even as this community is in mourning, the fire continues to represent real danger. The battle against the blaze must go on.
Read more from David
"I had to come here," Toby Smith said. "This is my community. This is my family and I felt the immediate need when I heard the news to get up, to come down here to see what I can do no matter what it is."
Orya Salverg said she was leaving flowers in tribute for everything the fire crew had done.
"They go all over the country trying to save people's lives. I knew some of these people... it's the least I could do."
The dead firefighters were part of an elite unit called the Granite Mountain Hotshots, and had battled other wildfires in New Mexico and Arizona in recent weeks, officials say.
A 20th member of the team - the only one to survive - was elsewhere at the time.
As they became surrounded by flames, the firefighters were forced to take shelter in emergency tent-like structures, said Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo.
"One of the last fail-safe methods a firefighter can do is literally to dig as much as they can down and cover themselves with a protective fire-resistant material, with the hope that the fire will burn over the top of them and they can survive it," he said.
"Under certain conditions there's usually only sometimes a 50% chance that they survive. It's an extreme measure that's taken under the absolute worst conditions."
'Brave men'
The 19 bodies were retrieved from the scene on Monday and were transported to Maricopa County, seat of Arizona's largest city, Phoenix, for an examination.
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“Start Quote
I was resolved to the fact I wasn't going to survive”
Life as a 'hotshot' firefighter
Meanwhile, officials were investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths, said Mary Rasmussen of the Southwest Area Incident Management Team.
The tragedy is the worst from a wildfire since 1933, when at least 25 firemen died battling a fire in Griffith Park, Los Angeles.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said the dead were "brave men who gave their lives in defence of friends, neighbours and perfect strangers".
The fire chief said the hotshots were "dedicated, hardworking, well-trained and experienced people".
Some 400 firefighters are still battling the fast-moving wildfire. At least 18 hotshot crews have been deployed to the fire.
In recent days, dozens of people across western US states have been treated for exhaustion and dehydration, as a heat wave continues.
Temperatures in some areas were expected to reach 54C (130F), close to the world's all-time high recorded 100 years ago in California's Death Valley.
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