19 Firefighters Killed in Arizona Fire

Local Editor

Nineteen firefighters were killed while battling a wildfire in central Arizona, in the deadliest fire the United States has witnessed for eighty years.

The group had been digging a fire line to try and cease the spread of the fire but found themselves trapped.

"In normal circumstances, when you're digging fire line, you make sure you have a good escape route, and you have a safety zone set up," Art Morrison, a state forestry official, told CNN.

"Evidently, their safety zone wasn't big enough, and the fire just overtook them," he added.

"It may be days or longer before an investigation reveals how this tragedy occurred, but the essence we already know in our hearts: fighting fires is dangerous work," Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer said.

The fire was started by a lightning strike on Friday and has been gathering momentum over the weekend, rapidly devouring the dry forest.

Hundreds of residents of Yarnell and Peeples Valley were being evacuated where officials expected the inferno to destroy around 250 homes in Yarnell, constituting around half of the town.

For his part, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake said he was "sick with the news" of the firefighting fatalities, which according to figures from the National Fire Protection Association constitute the largest loss of firefighter lives to a wildfire since 1933.

A Facebook page has been created in memory of the fallen firefighters. It includes a photo showing 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew.

Source: News Agencies, edited by website team