JoeBlam
Rookie
- Jun 1, 2013
- 1,742
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- Banned
- #1
These are the Special Forces of wildland fire-fighters so to lose 19 in a flash-over seems unbelieveable. The area around Yarnell is chaparral and chapparal sagebrush and some pinon pine. This isn't a typical Arizona forest fire taking thousands of acres of ponderosa. This is more like a brush-fire in an area of of small canyons twisting and turning through the high-desert landscape.
What we know so far is that a thunderstorm came down from Prescott with 45mph outer winds that hit a smoldering area in tinderbox conditions. The Granite Mountain Hot Shots had deployed the night before or early yesterday morning. These are the pick & shovel & chainsaw crew and they ATTACK a fire, steal it's tinder, and steer it in a direction away from structures. How they were all taken by a flash-over is simply too crazy to fathom.
What we know now is they are dead and little else. We don't know if they got in their fire-bags or had time to dig brush from underneath them. We don't know how hot the fire was. The bags cut 90% of the heat off a firefigher's body so if the blaze is 1,000 degrees, he can survive as long as he's captured his good air to breathe. There is no oxygen left around a fire of this magnitude. If the blaze is 2,000 degrees the bag can't save them. The bags can act like a kite if not opened and gotten inside of in time. Fires make their own wind so we don't know how fast or hot this event was. They practice and practice getting inside their shelters inside of one minute. Whether they had that minute we do not know.
What we know so far is that a thunderstorm came down from Prescott with 45mph outer winds that hit a smoldering area in tinderbox conditions. The Granite Mountain Hot Shots had deployed the night before or early yesterday morning. These are the pick & shovel & chainsaw crew and they ATTACK a fire, steal it's tinder, and steer it in a direction away from structures. How they were all taken by a flash-over is simply too crazy to fathom.
What we know now is they are dead and little else. We don't know if they got in their fire-bags or had time to dig brush from underneath them. We don't know how hot the fire was. The bags cut 90% of the heat off a firefigher's body so if the blaze is 1,000 degrees, he can survive as long as he's captured his good air to breathe. There is no oxygen left around a fire of this magnitude. If the blaze is 2,000 degrees the bag can't save them. The bags can act like a kite if not opened and gotten inside of in time. Fires make their own wind so we don't know how fast or hot this event was. They practice and practice getting inside their shelters inside of one minute. Whether they had that minute we do not know.
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