Heartbreaking: 19 firefighters die in AZ.

Heartfelt condolences to these brave blokes and their families.

RIP.

 

Congratulations. That is possibly the most cold-hearted comment I've ever seen posted on this board.

 

Fire fighters start a lot of fires. And then stupid smokers throw burning butts in the grass. One time a large fire was started by a hot catalytic converter that made contact with tall dry grass.

 

But it is a true statement. It's a risky job and people will die doing it.

Remember what Cheney said:
[h=1]"Cheney On 4,000 Dead Americans: They Volunteered"[/h]

 

Air tankers are fantastic, helicopters dropping water are also important, bulldozers, fire trucks with pumps......

But air tankers can't fly into every fire, and air tankers can't cut lines.

Lots of people think that firefighters 'put fires out', but in wildland fires, most of the time firefighters 'cut a line' to prevent the fire from spreading and then it burns itself out.

If the terrain is acceptable, a bulldozer does that great. Temporarily an air tanker can create a line, or knock down flare ups. But in many places the only way to create that line is a crew with hand tools and chain saws- cutting a line down to the dirt wide enough to prevent the fire from jumping across and spreading.

But with wild winds.....fires can essentially explode.

From what I have heard this crew were experienced and well trained. Maybe they made a mistake, or maybe the fire blew up in a way that couldn't reasonably be anticipated.

Oh- the 20th guy- he had been reassigned to a different crew earlier that day.