Arizona media forced the issue-and now the facts are coming
out. The documentation, released Friday, Dec 13, includes interviews with
commanders, fire crews and pilots who said they often did not know who was in
charge of battling the fire, could not speak to one another via radio, did not
know where the Granite Mountain crew was and did not hear warnings that the
fire might blow up because of an approaching monsoon storm. They
characterized the overall operation as “total non-stop chaos” and “Swiss cheese”
because it was so full of holes.
Helmet-cam videos (link below) also reveal the 19 Hotshot
firefighters who were killed while responding to the Yarnell wildfire last
summer made several desperate radio calls for help. An investigation revealed
commanders made numerous mistakes, and several of the victims’ families are
filing lawsuits.
=Slurry tankers were bombing the wrong targets.
=Commanders did not have safety or tactical plans.
=Fire-line supervisors argued while some crews didn’t have maps or know who was
in charge.
=And nearly everyone was in the dark with radio problems.
Those scenes of confusion from the Yarnell Hill Fire are detailed
in the records released Friday from the June30 blaze that killed 19
firefighters near Yarnell.
The documents, from a review of the tragedy conducted for the Arizona State
Forestry Division, now paint a more complete picture of chaos that escalated as
19 Granite Mountain Hotshots and 127 homes were overcome by flames.
A spokeswoman for the State
Forestry Division, which oversaw the firefighting effort, did not respond to a
request to discuss the firefighter accounts.
The interview notes
present a chilling montage of fire-suppression efforts that failed and the
tragedy that followed.
A group interview with four Blue Ridge Hotshot crew members provides the first
detailed account of the day they spent working near the Granite Mountain team. The U.S.
Forest Service, which employs them, refused to allow them to be interviewed for
the workplace-safety investigation.
In one set of notes, members of the Air Attack crew — responsible for
surveillance and assistance to air tankers — told investigators they did not
realize they were in charge until minutes before the fatal burn-over, when
another aircraft abruptly left the fire. The air-crew members said they weren’t
sure where to make fire-retardant drops as the blaze reversed directions and bore
down on Yarnell with a 2-mile- long wall of flame. At that moment, according to
the interview notes, they heard a distress call over the radio — apparently
from the Granite Mountain Hotshots — and called a ground supervisor to ask, “Do
we stop and go look for the crew?” The answer came back: “No, they’re safe.”
MEDIA
RECORDS REQUEST
The materials released Friday in response to an Arizona
Republic News records request contain thousands of pages compiled by a Serious
Accident Investigation team that was commissioned by state Forester Scott Hunt
to investigate the fatal accident. The documents included text messages, photos
and videos taken by hotshots. The documents also included communication
dispatch logs and redacted interview notes with fire officials.
The Forestry
Division Serious Accident Investigation team apparently did not record
interviews with the firefighters, and their records consist of summaries and
notes. At times, several people are interviewed, and the notes do not make
clear who made which statements.
Last week, a workplace-safety investigation by the Arizona
Division of Occupational Safety and Health led to a finding by the Industrial
Commission of Arizona that Forestry Division had committed serious and willful
workplace-safety violations by placing about 300 fire personnel in jeopardy
during the blaze. The commission levied fines and penalties of $559,000.
RELATED
LINKS:
HERE is the entire investigative article:
HERE are
Excerpts of The Radio Traffic:
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/hotshot-firefighters-made-desperate-radio-calls-for-help/
