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AFP/Getty Images Hotshot firefighters mourn 21-year-old Kevin Woyjeck during the Yarnell fire memorial service held at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz., Monday.
PRESCOTT, Ariz.—The 19 elite firefighters who died Sunday in an out-of-control wildfire were trained to handle the most dangerous conditions, the kind that raced through the nearby village of Yarnell and burned more than 8,000 acres and more than 200 structures.
Patrick Breen/Arizona Republic/Associated Press At a makeshift memorial in Prescott, Ariz., two women paid respects to 19 elite firefighters killed in a wildfire on Sunday.
Remembering
Andrew Ashcraft, 29
Robert Caldwell, 23
Travis Carter, 31
Dustin Deford, 24
Chris MacKenzie, 30
Eric Marsh, 43
Grant McKee, 21
Sean Misner, 26
Scott Norris, 28
Wade Parker, 22
John Percin, 24
Anthony Rose, 23
Jesse Steed, 36
Joe Thurston, 32
Travis Turbyfill, 27
Billy Warneke, 25
Clayton Whitted, 28
Kevin Woyjeck, 21
Garret Zuppiger, 27
By Monday, the public was mourning the loss of the men as investigators began trying to piece together what happened in the deadliest wildfire for firefighters ever in Arizona and the deadliest incident of any kind for U.S. first responders since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The men, aged between 21 and 43, were members of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew who endured grueling training together before being dispatched to battle wildfires nationwide. Based in Prescott, only 34 miles away from Yarnell, they knew the terrain.
But late Sunday afternoon, the firefighters radioed from their positions on the ground that they were in trouble. A short time later, a helicopter pilot reported to the Arizona State Forestry's dispatch center in Phoenix that firefighters were attempting to shelter themselves west of Yarnell under fire-shelter covers, a heat-resistant specialty fabric made of aluminum foil, woven silica, and fiberglass—their last line of defense.
Smoky conditions and heat made it difficult to check on the firefighters. "It felt like forever," said Carrie Dennett, state fire-prevention officer for Arizona State Forestry. What rescuers eventually found was that the men had been caught in a "burn over," a sudden change in the direction of the fire that overtook them faster than they could get out of the way, according to a spokesman with the Prescott Fire Department.
Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo, choking back tears, said the firefighters were "protecting property." As to what transpired next, he said, "only Mother Nature might be able to explain."
Aerial View of Destruction
Rick Wilking/Reuters A strip of fire retardant kept a large part of Yarnell, Ariz., right, from being destroyed Monday.
Many of the men lived in Prescott, whose motto is "Everybody's Hometown." Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, whose family grew up with several of the firefighters, said the wife of one of the men, Juliann Ashcraft, expressed concern at church Sunday about the safety of her husband, Andrew, when he was deployed on big blazes. He was later identified as one of those killed in the blaze. The young couple has four children, including a new baby, Mr. Bennett said. Mrs. Ashcraft couldn't be reached for comment.
Deadliest Wildfires
The blaze that killed 19 firefighters in Arizona was one of the deadliest in U.S. history.
July 6, 1994: The South Canyon Fire near Glenwood Springs, Colo., kills 14 firefighters.
June 25, 1990: The Dude Fire near Payson, Ariz., kills six.
Nov. 1, 1966: The Loop Fire near Pacoima, Calif., kills 12.
July 9, 1953: The Rattlesnake Fire in California's Mendocino National Forest kills 15 firefighters.
Nov. 24, 1956: The Inaja Fire in California's Cleveland National Forest kills 11 firefighters.
Aug. 5, 1949: The Mann Gulch Fire near Helena, Mont., kills 13 firefighters.
Oct. 1, 1943: The Hauser Canyon Fire in California's Cleveland National Forest kills 11 firefighters.
Aug. 21, 1937: The Blackwater Fire in Wyoming's Shoshone National Forest kills 15 firefighters.
Oct. 3, 1933: A wildfire in Griffith Park in Los Angeles kills 25 firefighters.
Aug. 20, 1910: A 36-hour firestorm in Idaho and Montana known as the Big Burn kills 85 people, of whom 78 were thought to be firefighters.
Source: National Fire Protection Association; WSJ research
"It's just heartbreaking," said Mr. Bennett. "Everybody knows everybody here, and everybody is going to know one of these guys."
Kevin Woyjeck, 21 years old, one of those killed Sunday, was fulfilling a family legacy when he became a firefighter after high school. His father, Joe Woyjeck, is a captain with Los Angeles County Fire Department and his two uncles are firefighters there as well.
Mr. Woyjeck's grandmother, Delores Woyjeck, said her grandson wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, first joining the Los Angeles County Fire Department Explorers Club when he was 15. After working for several years as a firefighter, he joined the Granite Mountain Hotshots—a term used by elite firefighting teams that often work closest to where infernos are their hottest.
Mr. Woyjeck joined the Granite Mountain Hotshots in April, after first serving on a hotshot team in South Dakota, according to Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby. "Kevin and I just spoke a few months ago about how excited he was to be a hotshot in Arizona," Mr. Osby said.
Mr. Osby said his department is working with Prescott officials "to bring Kevin home" for a memorial service.
The firefighters' bodies were recovered and taken to the Maricopa County coroner's office in Phoenix, Mr. Fraijo said.
The wildfire, which has been burning since Friday, was believed to have been sparked by lightning. On Monday, black smoke filled the air with its smell for miles, and the fire was 0% contained, with more than 400 firefighting personnel on the scene, according to Mary Rasmussen, a spokeswoman for the Southwest Area Incident Management Team, which coordinates efforts among firefighting entities. The fire continued to force evacuations and threaten homes in an area about 85 miles northwest of Phoenix.
A fast-moving wildfire in central Arizona claimed the lives of 19 specialist firefighters. The blaze has already led to the mandatory evacuation of 450 residents in Yarnell and Peeples Valley. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said: "This is as dark a day as I can remember." Photo: AP
Officials said it was too soon to know exactly what killed the firefighters or how many were able to deploy their protective shelters. Federal investigators arrived Monday to help local and state authorities conduct an inquiry into cause of death and related issues.
Experts said wildfires can create their own weather conditions, generating winds in sometimes unpredictable directions. This can happen when the clouds that form above fires from water in the smoke get so heavy they collapse, said Wally Covington, professor of fire ecology at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. "When it does that, the winds go out in all directions," he said.
Mr. Covington added that the fire shelters used by firefighters offer limited protection—usually no more than 10 minutes or so under what he called moderate fire conditions. "But under an extreme condition, they may not work," he said, adding suffocation from smoke is often the cause of fatalities.
Burn overs are "one of the higher risks" for firefighters, said Robert Garcia, former superintendent of a U.S. Forest Service hot-shot team in California. He said lookouts are assigned to watch for tell-tale indicators such as a fire suddenly burning fast after burning slowly, which alerts the team to be ready to retreat to a designated safety zone such as downhill from their location.
Mr. Garcia, now division chief of the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, said the fire shelters are only used "when you can't make it to your safety zone."
Nationwide, there are more than 110 hotshot firefighting crews, elite teams of about 20 specially trained members who typically work nearly nonstop through the summer, breaking every two weeks for two days off. At the beginning of each fire season they refresh their skills during a minimum-80-hour training session, doing group cohesion drills, going over strategy and the latest tactics.
Associated Press Toby Schultz paused after laying flowers at the gate of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew fire station on Monday in Prescott, Ariz.
Nineteen firefighters were killed while battling a central Arizona wildfire that was sparked by lightning Friday and grew quickly Sunday, threatening two rural mountain communities. Art Morrison, Arizona Department of Forestry information officer, joins Lunch Break. Photo: AP.
"These guys are the best of the best," said Alex Abols, a longtime Idaho-based hotshot, who recently became a smoke jumper.
Such teams forge into the forest carrying 40 to 50 pounds of equipment, including rations, a chain saw and a tool called a Pulaski that combines an ax and a hoe—plus the shelters that are their last line of defense against being burned alive.
Smoke jumpers typically jump to the ground from airplanes, usually during the initial attack on a wildfire. They can respond more quickly and can act independently with or without a team.
It's not uncommon for hotshot crews to fight fires deep in the forest, and they might stay in the wilderness for days at a time, often emerging from blazes with their faces and clothing covered in dark soot.
The elite crews are sent around the country to battle the toughest wildfires, and can be away from home for weeks at a time and on short notice. "Crews sleep on the ground and are lucky to get a shower every couple of days," according to a description of hotshots on the website for the U.S. Forest Service, one of several federal and state agencies that use the teams.
Until Sunday, the deadliest wildfire for firefighters in modern times had been a 1994 blaze in northwest Colorado. Known as the South Canyon fire, it killed 14 hotshots and smoke jumpers on the side of Storm King Mountain in early July. That tragedy led to better interagency coordination and improved tactics, including more protective fire shelters for the crew to improve their odds of survival, according to Mr. Abols.
—Tamara Audi, Jim Carlton and Ann Zimmerman contributed to this article. Write to Erica E. Phillips at erica.phillips@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University was incorrectly spelled as Embry-Little in an earlier version of this article.
A version of this article appeared July 2, 2013, on page A3 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Firefighters Doomed by Sudden Shift in Fire.
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