19 firefighters confirmed dead in Arizona wild fire

just stopped in for a visit. wanted to post a bit about this fire.
hope it's alright to c&p a few replies i made on another board.

this is bad, friends lost their homes, another friend lost fire fighter son. just search 'yarnell,az fire news' for info. am leaving flagstaff this afternoon to go see if i can help. highway 89 is closed so i may need to take back roads through the forest to get there from prescott. half the town burned, wish me luck.

i'm hoping there is no need for back roads, but i think the entire area is closed. if i can at least get close i'll go in on foot. need to at least try.

And do WHAT, exactly? Clutter up the place with all the other rubberneckers?
not sure to be honest, but my friend john asked me to help him evacuate his horses. supposedly the forest service will let him go in in the morning, his house burned, his dogs are dead but the fire missed his barn. if we can go in, i need to be there.

a friend asked for help and i'm going to try. horse trailer shouldn't be needed, fire fighters might be able to do it before we can. i'm just gunna' head that way in case it's possible. if i can't get there, i'll hang close till i can. at the very least i'd like to be close.

man, what a couple of days that was. we couldn't get near the town itself. i volunteered my r.v. as a shuttle for people and supplies. have been mostly driving between peoples valley and the happy jack lodge, whose owner opened up the lodge and campground for free to evacuees. i had to take a break for today, am sitting outside a tire shop right now. i got a sharp rock stuck in between 2 of my duellies and blew 2 tires. between this 300 and another 300 i've spent on gas, plus food and cases of water, i'm about out of cash. i also received a ticket for pulling an unlisenced trailer. # it, after i get these tires i'll be heading for a pawn shop to see if i can sell off some gold and/or silver for more funds. i may need to call in a few debts. the amazing thing is how all these people haven't even mentioned the loss of their homes, all talk is about the firefighters who died. no reports of looting, the red cross has established shelters, some animal groups are saving livestock and pets that were left behind. still not sure about friends horses, no word yet.

the only good news to report is that the reports of the 20th firefighter being burned and in critical condition was false. he's ok.

mods, sorry about this mess, but i don't have much time to clean it up.
i'll be heading back soon, as soon as the tires are mounted.'
just wanted to add my 2cents.
delete if needed.

My condolences to the families.
It's a terrible thing that happened.
Deaths are very rare in wildland fire fighting, and so many at one time is such a tragedy.
As a former wildland firefighter, that has had to go to a "shake & bake" , I can imagine what they went through, it is no way to die.