The CBS Evening News on Monday ran this story about Juliann Ashcraft, the wife of one of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. She suddenly became the single mother of four children when her husband, Andrew, was killed along with 18 others from the crew June 30 on the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona. Even though Mr. Ashcraft worked full time, the Prescott Fire Department said his wife is not entitled to the survivor benefits usually owed to a full time firefighter.
(The video may take a while to begin. If you can’t view it, visit the CBS site.)
In 2011 Andrew Ashcraft sent us some photos he took of the Las Conchas fire in northern New Mexico.
He also sent his wife some photos of the Yarnell Hill Fire an hour or two before the crew was overrun by the fire on June 30, 2013.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said Wednesday that Arizona State Forestry Division Deputy Director Jerry Payne actually did make the statements about the cause of the fatalities that John Dougherty, of Investigative Media, reported. She said this, in spite of the vigorous denials made earlier by Payne and the department’s spokesman, Jim Paxon. Investigative Media has more details on these developments.
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The Arizona State Forestry Division has issued an apology for “unauthorized opinions made by Deputy State Forester Jerry Payne regarding the Yarnell Hill Fire fatalities”.
All but one of the 20 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew were overrun by the Yarnell Hill Fire and killed on June 30 just north of Yarnell, Arizona.
At 5 p.m. Tuesday the state agency issued a news release after receiving numerous inquiries about statements attributed to Mr. Payne in an article written by John Dougherty of Investigative Media. The Deputy State Forester was quoted as listing a number of mistakes that he said the superintendent of the Granite Mountain Hotshots made on the fire, including, according to the article, violating…
… several basic wildfire rules including not knowing the location of the fire, not having a spotter observing the fire and leading his crew through thick, unburned vegetation near a wildfire.
The news release issued Tuesday by the Office of the State Forester after Mr. Dougherty’s article was published, said in part:
State Forester Scott Hunt wants to make it clear that State Forestry has taken no position on the causes of the fatalities and awaits the results of the two independent investigations that are currently being conducted by the Serious Accident Investigation Team and Arizona Department of Occupational Safety and Health.
State Forestry apologizes for Mr. Payne’s inappropriate expression of opinion as fact and unfounded speculation that prejudges the ultimate conclusion of the investigation.
Wildfire Today originally wrote about Mr. Payne’s opinions in an article earlier on Tuesday.
Our Analysis
The State Forester did the right thing by putting out an unequivocal apology right away — a smart move that will make this a one- or two-day story, rather than letting it fester for weeks or months. The publicity the apology generates may discourage others from jumping the gun, making half-assed proclamations about who was right and who was wrong before we actually know what occurred on the Yarnell Hill Fire.
With the few facts that are known at this stage about what happened on the fire, what the firefighters knew, and who made which decisions, anyone (including state or local officials or people who leave comments on Wildfire Today), is very premature in pointing fingers and casting blame — or, for that matter, saying no one is to blame. Making assumptions is irresponsible, and is not fair to the 19 deceased firefighters or those who eventually hope to benefit from lessons learned after the facts are known.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said Wednesday that Arizona State Forestry Division Deputy Director Jerry Payne actually did make the statements about the cause of the fatalities that John Dougherty, of Investigative Media, reported. She said this, in spite of the vigorous denials made earlier by Payne and the department’s spokesman, Jim Paxon. Investigative Media has more details on these developments.
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(UPDATE at 12:15 a.m. MDT, July 31, 2013)
The Arizona State Forestry Division has issued an apology for the “unauthorized opinions” expressed by Deputy Director Jerry Payne.
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(Originally published at 12:42 p.m. MDT, July 30, 2013)
An official with the Arizona State Forestry Division told a reporter Monday that the Granite Mountain Hotshots made mistakes and violated procedures that led to the deaths of 19 members of their crew on the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30.
John Dougherty, of Investigative Media, recently interviewed Jerry Payne, a deputy director of the Arizona State Forestry Division, who told him that Eric Marsh, the Superintendent of the hotshot crew, was serving as Division Supervisor the day of the fatal accident. One of the captains on the crew took Mr. Marsh’s place and the hotshots were assigned to Marsh’s Division.
Mr. Dougherty wrote that the deputy director told him that while the hotshot crew was hiking from the black, or burned area of the fire toward the ranch house:
…it appears that Marsh violated several basic wildfire rules including not knowing the location of the fire, not having a spotter observing the fire and leading his crew through thick, unburned vegetation near a wildfire. “The division supervisor broke those rules and put those people at risk.”
The crew became entrapped by the fire and died while they were still 1,900 feet away from the safety zone at the ranch house.
Mr. Payne also said, according to Mr. Dougherty:
The lawsuits are going to start. The sharks are circling.
It is surprising that key officials are making statements such as the ones above by the state and the opinions expressed earlier this month by Chief Willis of Prescott Fire Department. After most serious accidents or fatalities on wildland fires, individuals wait until the official investigation report is released — and even then may be very reluctant to talk about the incident. It could cause a person to wonder what motivated Mr. Willis and Mr. Payne to be so vocal.
Fatality site photo, looking east. Photo by Joy Collura (used with permission), labels by Wildfire Today
Prescott Fire Department Division Chief Darrell Willis on Tuesday escorted members of the media to the site on the Yarnell Hill fire where 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were killed June 30. John Dougherty, an investigative reporter who has written for the New York Times, was there and recorded these videos of Chief Willis’ briefing. They are embedded here with his permission. John also wrote an article about his visit to the site.
The first video is the Chief providing his understanding of what happened, and in the second he takes questions from the reporters.
The Arizona State Forestry Division has issued a report that summarizes information about some of the major events and the firefighting resources that were deployed for the Yarnell Hill Fire on which 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew were killed.
A very quick summary: according to the report, 24 hours after the Yarnell Hill Fire was reported, it had burned only 6 acres — 23 hours after that 19 firefighters were dead. It seems too unlikely to believe.
The fire, caused by lightning, was reported at 5:40 p.m. The Yarnell Volunteer Fire Department responded, but they were not sure they could access it. The fire was not staffed at night for safety and lack of access reasons. The last reported size that day was one acre. Air Attack flew over the fire but there was no mention of any helicopters or air tankers being used. There were multiple lightning-caused fires in that part of the state.
A spot weather forecast from the National Weather Service predicted for Saturday, hot (102-104 degrees), dry (10-11% relative humidity), winds light (W-SW 6-10 gusts to 14 m.p.h.), very little relative humidity recovery at night, and the possibility of high based showers or thunderstorms with a slight chance of moisture. If thunderstorms developed, the fire area could experience gusty winds.
If you did not get a chance to see it live, or would just like to see it again, below is a video recording of the two and a half hour June 9 memorial service for the 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots who were killed June 30. The video is made available by Azfamily.com.
