-AZCentral.com. [30] President Barack Obama issued a statement on July1, promising federal help and praising the 19firefighters as heroes. "I think they trusted us when they saw how dedicated we were and how much we were willing to lend ourselves and how lazy we weren't. Mason added that federal officials intended to replace the current fire shelter design following the Yarnell Hill tragedy; however, in that case, with temperatures exceeding 2,200 degrees F with extreme turbulent air conditions, no fire shelter could have protected that crew. ", Yarnell Hill Tragedy Documentary & Related Videos, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Watch a video of a fire helicopter drinking from a pool, last video footage of the Granite Mountain Hotshots alive. The second time, I was talking to my counselor, and I was just getting into some real heavy [stuff], really getting into the nitty-gritty of what makes my stress, my anxiety, my PTSD tick. On June 28, 2013, a lightning storm ignited the Yarnell Hill Fire in the high desert northwest of Phoenix. Ultimately, the movie sticks to the true story here. Eric makes her stop the truck and storms off, ending up at Duane Steinbrink's house. I wanted to shut these people up. Do you care about what the public thinks outside of the small area where you live? A trail follows the last steps of the hotshots down to the fatality site where they made their last stand. Learn more about each firefighter at the Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park memorial site or CNNs tribute to the fallen firefighters. All rights reserved. The real Marsh stood by the decision and said, "Whatever you need to do for your daughter, you go ahead and do that. Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park was dedicated in 2016 as a place to remember the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshot Firefighters who were lost on June 30, 2013, while fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire. The tragedy all but wiped out the 20-member Granite Mountain Hotshots, a unit based at Prescott, authorities said Monday as the last of the bodies were retrieved from the mountain in the. Some didnt take their phones into the fire. We invite you to hike the trail to better understand the experience of these men as well as to appreciate the beauty of the town of Yarnell and the surrounding areas. No. "This book also reminded me a lot of the good times. He found odd jobs and tried to prepare for fatherhood,despite continued drug use and an arrest tied to stolen property. interacts online and researches product purchases The Yarnell Hill Fire was one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires since the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which killed 25 people, and the deadliest wildland fire for U.S. firefighters since the 1933 Griffith Park fire, which killed 29 "impromptu" civilian firefighters drafted on short notice to help battle that Los Angeles area fire. Hike the Hotshots Trail from the parking lot trailhead up to the overlook where you'll see sweeping views in every direction, and perhaps leave a memento on our remembrance wall. Best thing for everyone.. A circular trail provides access around the baskets and the four memorial benches. Youre recognized near your home in Prescott, Ariz., and at firefighter memorials. Based on radio conversations, Operations and other resources had concluded the Granite Mountain IHC was located in the black, near the ridge top where they had started that morning. McDonough authored the 2017 book Granite Mountain: The Firsthand Account of a Tragic Wildfire, Its Lone Survivor, and the Firefighters Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice., Fernanda Santos, who covers Arizona and New Mexico as the Phoenix bureau chief forThe New York Times, penned the 2017 book The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.. McDonough ejected the bullet, pulled out the magazine and tossed it and the gun in the backseat. No. Marsh said he was coming up with an escape plan. Brendan McDonough wrote a first-person account of the Yarnell Hill Fire in his memoir My Lost Brothers, which was re-titled Granite Mountain. tides equities los angeles does dawn dish soap kill ticks does dawn dish soap kill ticks Their mission was to "understand what happened as completely as possible" to prevent similar incidents. Speculation abounds that McDonoughknows more than he has disclosed aboutevents that day. They trained under the supervision of Eric Marsh (depicted by Josh Brolin in the movie). What Colombia plans for their descendants, Messy storms roll eastward after slamming Texas, Louisiana, Ukrainians dig up more bodies from makeshift graves in once-occupied towns, New crew from U.S, Russia and UAE arrives at space station. This is what started the wildfire two days earlier. The Yarnell Hill Fire is the sixth-deadliest American firefighter disaster in history, the deadliest wildfire ever in the state of Arizona, and (at least until 2014) was "the most-publicized event in wildland firefighting history. The park opened to the public on Nov. 30, 2016. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had to stop making so many public appearances. Did the hotshots suffer? But theres other people, a very few people, taking advantage of what it is, taking grief and trauma thats not their own. She had a memorial shirt on. That task was shouldered by former Deputy Fire Chief Darrell Willis, who is not represented in the movie. [Well-wishers] want to talk. Ill give you a call when we are under the sh-shelters, Marsh screamed. In the Only the Brave movie, Miles Teller's character tells Eric Marsh that he wants to quit the hotshots and become part of a structural team so that he can see his daughter more. Longitude: -112.7699444. Marsh later told Jesse Steed, the acting supervisor of the crew for that day, that they should start heading down to the ranch. The hotshots were drinking "at the Whiskey Row Pub, a dive in Prescott's historic downtown," according to 2013 story in Outside Magazine. Citing his PTSD, he twice canceled depositions scheduled by the Arizona Division of Forestry, which was investigating the fire and negotiating settlements with the families of the dead. Get an up-close look at the Yarnell Hill Fire by watching the documentary below, which includes audio and video of the Granite Mountain Hotshots from the day of the tragedy. They first operated as a fuels mitigation crew until they transitioned to a handcrew in 2004. Guys are dying in the same exact scenarios that were killing hotshots fifty or seventy-five years ago. They can come back to us in six months or a year, if they want to do it then, well do it then., While this is going on, everyone in the media is saying, Brendan is hiding, hes lying, he wont testify, yada yada yada, hes deceitful. He assumed they were still on a ridge where they were in the "cold black," he writes, where they were "Untouchable." Toggle navigation beckton gas works railway; how to find ceres in your chart The park is located 2 miles south of Yarnell on southbound State Route 89, Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park, Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park. Learn more about the Granite Mountain Hotshots statue. [8], By July 1, the fire had expanded to over 8,300 acres (3,400ha) and prompted the evacuation of the nearby community of Peeples Valley. A three-mile (4.8 km) path leads from a parking area on Highway 89 up to an observation deck. The fire grew overnight to approximately 300 to 500 acres. Fire service leaders, plus family and community members, shared their grief. There are plenty of videos online of fire helicopters taking water from lakes, ponds, and both private and public pools. All rights reserved. Nineteen minutes later, McDonough was sitting in a truck when he heard Marshs voice over the radio: we are in front of the flaming front.. "[This quote needs a citation] Brewer appealed to President Obama to overturn the decision. They could 'read the writing on the wall' before it got to them. As depicted in the movie, they fought fires like the 2011 Horseshoe 2 Fire in southern Arizona. Two days later, the brush fire that covered a few hundred acres exploded across 13 square miles. Thats what Im famous for. After Eric and Amanda wed in 2010, a year later Amanda (played by Jennifer Connelly in the movie) started a business training horses and trimming hooves on their ranch. She played it off like she didnt use it for her advantage, but she did. Our escape route has been cut off. Its a weird kind of celebrity, isnt it? She saw it as a fresh start. I want to be mindful of how Im perceived. McDonough says he did overhear a discussion on the radio about his supervisor, Eric Marsh, going on ahead to make sure the route was good to the ranch they were hoping to reach, which was supposed to be a safe spot. The victims were killed by the intense heat and flames of the fire. . [27] The number of total fatalitiesalthough not of firefightershas since been surpassed by California's 2018 Camp fire which killed 85 civilians. To the world, they are heroes. All that lay between me and my brothers was five pounds of trigger pull.. The fire forever changed the physical landscape of the area, but also solidified the resilience of area residents and the wildland firefighting community. [38], A second memorial has been placed at the intersection of Arizona State Route 89 and Hays Ranch Road in Peeples Valley. [11] By the end of the day on July3, the fire was reportedly 45percent contained and showing no signs of expanding, thus allowing Peeples Valley residents to return to their homes on July4. how to become a school board member in florida ocean deck band schedule Lexipol. These controlled burns create a control line that the advancing fire cannot cross. Without passing judgment, he saysthey acted on the best information they had at the time. Something like this that you go through, it's not going to be easy but you can come out on top.". Yes. "[3][4], The tragedy is primarily attributed to an extreme and sudden shift in weather patterns, causing the fire to intensify and cut off the firefighters route as they were escaping. Foskett has a bachelor's degree in journalism from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and a certificate in technical communications from the University of California, San Diego. The film was praised for its acting and emotional portrayal of its subject matter. Unlike Miles Teller's character in the movie, we found no evidence that the real Brendan McDonough was bitten by a rattlesnake and spent time in the hospital recovering. He'd thought they were in the black, up on the ridge. Additionally, Outside magazine released the documentary The Granite Mountain Hotshots and the Yarnell Hill Fire in August 2013. At approximately 4:42p.m., the fire overtook the Granite Mountain Hotshots position. He identified a spot, and another hotshot crew working in the area gave him a ride there. "This is a Hollywood movie. Go be with your friends. Just one of the hotshots on the crew survivedhe was posted as a lookout on the fire and was not with the others when the fire overtook them. The 19 firefighters killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire southwest of Prescott were part of an elite firefighting crew called the Granite Mountain Hotshots.According to the Arizona Incident Management . Travis Turbyfill was an equipment and tool whiz. No. I was a dad before I got hired. The result was radio transmissions that were at times broken and filled with static. -WildfireToday.com In the movie, Chris MacKenzie (Taylor Kitsch) can be seen taking pictures on the day of the tragedy. "Sometimes, those risks all add up," the captain said. I dont feel taken care of. We didn't really learn anything new. [12] Four days later, on July8, Yarnell residents were permitted to return. 0:34. So there was no time to prep, and he said no. Many have since said that they were forced to grieve too publicly. She joined the Lexipol team in 2019 and has 15 years of experience infire service media and publishing. He has a child on the way with his girlfriend and is looking to turn his life around. He torethrough the brush and the other crew,anticipating hed need a ride out, rescued him. "I'd like to go back to school," he said. The town, which is located roughly 80 miles northwest of Phoenix, has a population of approximately 700 citizens. He still lives in Prescott, in a rented home. The atmosphere is so dry in the Desert Southwest that big raining thunderstorms often evaporate before the moisture hits the ground. Ask questions or submit ideas via email. Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park is a state park near Yarnell, Arizona, created to memorialize the nineteen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots who died there on June 30, 2013, while fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire . "I have no clue," says lone hotshot survivor Brendan McDonough. In Yarnell, there was confusion about the Granite Mountain crews location. On June30, it overran and killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. Cari Gerchick, a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office in Phoenix, said the Hotshots died from burns, carbon monoxide poisoning or oxygen deprivation, or a combination of. McDonough onFriday tried to end the speculation. In the end, the wildland firefighting community continues to prioritize firefighter safety but has seen moderate, not sweeping, changes in operations. The books will hit the shelvesas the thirdanniversary nears of the deadliest blazefor firefighters since 9/11. A key finding in the report: Although much communication occurred among crews throughout the day, few people understood Granite Mountains intentions, movements, and location, once they left the black. He was forced to hike out on foot, and that's when Brian Frisby, Superintendent of the Blue Ridge Hotshots (renamed the Blue River Hotshots in the movie), located him after monitoring radio communications between McDonough and the Granite Mountain IHC Captain. [43][44], On December 4, 2013, the Industrial Commission of Arizona, which oversees workplace safety, blamed the state's Forestry Division for the deaths of the 19firefighters, based on an investigation by the state's Division of Occupational Safety and Health. McDonough credits the hotshot crew with teaching him how to be a man and a father, and he shares his story of redemption in his memoir My Lost Brothers (re-titled Granite Mountain). See more of our top stories on Facebook >>. sixth-deadliest American firefighter disaster, Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park, "Yarnell Hill Fire damage claims total $662 million", "Damage shocks Yarnell fire evacuees as they return home", "What We Learned from the Yarnell Hill Fire Deaths", "Arizona Blaze That Killed 19 Firefighters Rages On", "19 firefighters dead in Yarnell Hill Fire", "Yarnell Hill Fire: The Making of a Disaster", "Yarnell Hill Fire now 8 percent contained", "Yarnell fire containment up to 45 percent; some in area can go home tonight", "Arizona's Yarnell Hill fire 100 percent contained", "Yarnell Hill Fire containment up to 45 percent", "19 firefighters dead in Yarnell wildfire", "Yarnell Hill Fire: Red Cross sets up shelters for Arizona wildfire victims", "Multiple firefighter fatalities on the Yarnell Fire in Arizona", "No Exit: The GQ Story That Inspired Only the Brave", "Deadly Yarnell Hill Fire: Crews expect fire to be erratic", "19 elite firefighters killed in Arizona wildfire identified", "19 Firefighters Killed in Arizona Wildfire", "Statement from Governor Jan Brewer:Tragedy on the Yarnell fire", "Statement from Governor Jan Brewer: Lowering flags for fallen firefighters", "Obama on Arizona firefighter deaths: 'They were heroes', "Statements by FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and US Fire Administrator Ernest Mitchell on the Wildfire in Arizona", "Cardinals donate $100,000 to assist families affected by Yarnell Fire", "Yarnell Fire: Blaze 45% contained, services for Prescott 19 set for Tuesday", "Arizona fire investigators look at what went wrong", "Photos and observations from the Granite Mountain 19 Memorial Service", "Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park", "Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial Placed at Location Where 19 Firefighters Died", "Arizona Hotshots honors Granite Mountain Hotshots, fallen public safety members", "Governor asks president to overturn FEMA decision on Yarnell Hill fire", "No negligence in deaths of 19 Arizona firefighters, report says", "Communications problems cited in deaths of 19 Arizona Hotshot firefighters", "Report blames Arizona Forestry Division for firefighter deaths", "Yarnell Hill fire: Arizona agency didn't prioritize Hotshots' safety, officials say", "The Story That 'Only the Brave' Leaves Out", "Money Splits a City Still Mourning Its Firefighters", "New Video from Yarnell Hill Fire Released: Footage taken by fellow firefighters is stirring but unilluminating", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yarnell_Hill_Fire&oldid=1141081986, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the National Weather Service, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 07:18. Brendan McDonough, who had separated from the crew earlier in the day, survived the incident. About Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park. 19 jersey in honor of the fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots. I cant let those feelings take over. 6 1 [22], The only survivor from the 20-man crew was 21-year-old Brendan McDonough. Chaos ensued. [Read next:How the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots reached millions]. The hotshots and the actors who play them in 'Only the Brave', Out of the ashes - surviving hotshotwrites a book, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids, Elliott: Kings use their heads over hearts in trading Jonathan Quick, Best coffee city in the world? Im trying not to go out in the media and say they did this to me and they did that to me. [10] On July2, the fire was estimated at 8% containment and had not grown in the past 24hours. McDonough was assigned the task of lookout, which involved observing the fire and watching the weather: You are the eyes of the crew, he writes. The hike is approximately 3.5 miles long from the trailhead to the Fatality Site, for a full length of about 7 miles.. [13], The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said that 127 buildings in Yarnell and two in Peeples Valley had been destroyed. A hotshot contains an inferno buy using fire to burn a line through the fire's fuel path. In the Only the Brave movie, Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin) gets into an argument with his wife Amanda (Jennifer Connelly) while they are driving home from the Whiskey Row bar where they had been hanging out with the crew. He saw it as a little hick town. His drinking and drug use worsened. Firefighting has always been a dangerous job, with risk-benefit decisions. They traveled from Colorado to Idaho fighting fires. The nineteen men who died were:Andrew AshcraftRobert CaldwellEric MarshGrant McKeeSean MisnerScott NorrisWade ParkerJohn Percin Jr.kevin WoyjeckAnthony RoseJesse SteedJoe ThurstonWilliam WarnekeClayton Whitted Travis Carter Dustin Deford Brendan McDonoughThe group . Ive learned to just talk and listen, listen to peoples grief. McDonough was stunned. That evening, the Type 4 incident commander ordered a Type 2 Incident Management Team (IMT) and additional resources for the following morning. My hands were thick with the black soot that I knew contained trace amounts of the bodies of my friends.. The smoke was too thick to see clearly. He cut his hand on a piece of partly-melted glass, and after walking and sifting through the char, found 10 objects, pieces of his brothers, that included a coffee mug, a broken tool head and a small drip torch. In a fierce, monsoon-like thunderstorm, the winds had changed direction on the firefighters. [5], At around 5:36p.m. MST (23:36 UTC) on June 28, 2013, a spell of dry lightning ignited a wildfire on Bureau of Land Management lands near Yarnell, Arizona, a town of approximately 700residents located about 80 miles (130km) northwest of Phoenix. The newspaper started the project to honor Idahoans killed 20 years ago in a wildfire in Colorado. [40], After the fire, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ruled that the fire did not qualify for disaster aid to homeowners, because most of the homes that burned were insured. These included Zuppiger, Christopher MacKenzie and the crew's sole survivor, Brendan McDonough. According to the Yarnell Hill Fire Serious Accident Investigation report, For most of the day, the fire spread to the northeast, threatening structures in Model Creek and Peeples Valley. However, as with the Yarnell Hill Fire, the lightning still reaches the ground and sparks the dry tinder. Since reliving the tragedy is difficult, how do you balance the outreach youre doing with your own mental health? MONTINI:Out of the ashes - surviving hotshotwrites a book. The only thing of concern that they discovered were issues with radio communications due to heavy radio traffic and radios that weren't programmed with proper tone guards. Copyright 2023 He dreadsfire season, he writes, and in spite of the investigations into actions of the personnel who worked the Yarnell Hill Fire, nothings really changed on the ground for the crews. The center is described on its site as a one-of-a kind wildland fire learning center that honors the legacy of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew by educating, inspiring, and motivating visitors to adopt behaviors that prevent wildland fires, resulting in fewer fire-related fatalities.. McDonoughthought they were taking a curved, two-track path to get there. No, I do care. Not all of the family members were happy with the film. Hes still writing a book, but hes going to write something in the book he doesnt want to testify about.. -ABC News. More information had come out that showed [the 19 dead firefighters] didnt make the mistakes they were accused of. The exact same scenarios.. So the answer to your question: no, they're not there anymore but their legacy continue on. SIDE BY SIDE:The hotshots and the actors who play them in 'Only the Brave'. We invite you to hike the trail to better understand the experience of these men as . The investigation team was led by Jim Karels, the state forester for the Florida Forest Service. 0:00. Years later, they moved to Prescott which he describes as something out of an early John Wayne movie to be with his moms ailing father. The Park features a main trail that leads to an Observation Deck that overlooks the site where the firefighters perished. [52][53] Kyle Dickman, a former firefighter and former editor of Outside magazine, published the nonfiction book, On the Burning Edge: A Fateful Fire and the Men Who Fought It (2015). A trail follows the last steps of the hotshots down to the fatality site where they made their last stand. According to the Arizona State Forestry Division, the team visited the site of the accident, reviewed audio and video files, interviewed individuals associated with the incident, reviewed fire weather and behavior data, and examined available records and physical evidence. She traveled to other ranches working on horses, making house calls. According to McDonough's memoir, he discussed his future with Eric Marsh quite some time before the Yarnell Fire. He wondered why they dropped into the canyon, and he tried to get inside Marshs head. did the granite mountain hotshots suffersouthwest cargo phone number. "Three guys washed out," says McDonough, who was in his third season with the crew when the tragedy happened. Im not scared of them, I dont fear them. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. When youve been left behind as a child, that pain never leaves you, he writes. "We are going to hallowed ground," says Jim Paxon, spokesman for the Arizona Forestry Division, moments before leading reporters and TV crews to the site where 19 members of the Granite Mountain . On the day of the tragedy, the fire had spread rapidly from 300 acres to over 2,000 acres. His heart hardened a bit after she up and left him for six months with his grandparents, with whom they had lived. Ive never done that. The Park website reads: We invite you to hike the trail to better understand the experience of these men as well as to appreciate the beauty of the town of Yarnell and the surrounding areas. On June 30, 2015 2 years after the deaths of the hotshots Arizona State Parks purchasedthe 320-acre plot of land that was the site of the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire. How many times did the Division of Forestry ask to depose you, and what happened each time? Prescott Fire Department Station 7 housed the crews equipment and two 10-person crew carriers. He is also a veteran of the American Middle West, with stints in Iowa City and Des Moines, Iowa. McDonough and Frisby moved the crew's vehicles to a safer spot, which is what they were doing when the entrapment of the Granite Mountain crew was happening. Only one Granite Mountain Hotshot survived the fire. I cried myself to sleep the first four or five nights and dreamed of the day Id make enough money to buy a big house for them all to live together. MacKenzie became "like asecond father" toMcDonough's daughter, Michaela, and spent holidays at McDonough'smoms house. The Granite Mountain Hotshots formed in 2002 as a group within the Prescott Volunteer Fire Department. After the deadly incident, it was decided that they couldn't keep the crew and folded down the service. The Team believes this is due to brief, informal, and vague radio transmissions and talkarounds that can occur during wildland fire communications. "The fact that we trained with actual Granite Mountain Hotshots I think was a major major thing," says Brolin, who plays team leader Eric Marsh in the film. did the granite mountain hotshots suffer 12th June 2022 . The Yarnell Hill was the largest wildland firefighter loss of life since the 1933 Griffith Park Fire in California in which 29 firefighters were killed, surpassing even the line-of-duty deaths at Colorados South Canyon Fire in 1994 and Montanas Mann Gulch Fire in 1949. I think we got their approval and I think that meant a lot to everybody. The crews leader, Eric Marsh, took a chance on him. But his path to the Granite Mountain team was tumultuous. He was told by the second in command, Jesse Steed, to evacuate his position. On October 20, 2017, Columbia Pictures released a biographical drama film based on the events of this disaster, titled Only the Brave. McDonough's book makes no newrevelationsabout why his friends didnt make it out alive. The UTV turned aroundand I got my last glimpse of the boys as they headed into the brush, their bodies leaning forward, their heads tilted down.. Based on the smoke puffing in the distance, McDonoughthought theyd be home for dinner the next day. Is hotshot trucking 2021 worth it? "This is as dark a day as I can remember," she said. Soon after, he began the long journey of therapy. -AZCentral.com, Not exactly. [29] She ordered flags flown at half-staff in Arizona through July19. Detailing how tragedy unfolded and how the community has honored the fallen firefighters. The crew told him to get out, since at that moment the fire was closer to him than the crew. "It forced me to face a lot of the things that I was keeping deep down some of the stuff that I tried to hide from myself that was really manifesting in a negative way in my body," he said. The Granite Mountain Inter-agency Hotshots were committed to 73 days of fire assignments, completing 356 assessments, 56 homes were treated, 148 additional. [21] The city of Prescott released the names of the 19 firefighters on July1. . He doesnt know why the crew took thepath that led them down from safety atop a blackenedridgeand into a trap they would not walk away from atthe front of the wind-swept inferno. In real life, there is no record of the Marshes fighting the night before he left for the Yarnell Fire. In the time that has passed since his friends' deaths, he hasturned at times to alcohol, he said. She tells him that she wants to have a child, which is contrary to what they had agreed upon. Arizona's Forestry Division conducted a three-month investigation that found no negligence in the response to the tragedy, citing that an air tanker carrying flame retardant was directly above the firefighters as they died. Chris MacKenzie, who was hard on him early on, became a close friend and roommate. Nigel Duara covered the border for the Los Angeles Times, based in Tucson, until 2017. The investigation team was unable to verify communications from the crew from 1604 until 1637 and, therefore, there is much that cannot be known about the crews decisions and actions prior to their entrapment and fire shelter deployment at around 1642., The summary continues: It is known that the Granite Mountain IHC left the black sometime after 1604 and traveled through an unburned area toward a safety zone at the Boulder Springs Ranch. No one knows why the hotshots decided to leave the safety of a black area and descend into the canyon, and the film doesn't try to guess. Yes. Before he found the Granite Mountain Hotshots, McDonough was a Southern California skater kid who ran with the wrong crowd, skipped school and smoked marijuana. Brendan McDonough survived one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history, an inferno near Yarnell, Ariz., that killed 19 of his fellow Granite Mountain Hotshots on June 30, 2013. The day he showed up at the station, they happened to have an opening. In 2009 he was chosen to be among the elite Granite Mountain Hot Shots crew through the City of Prescott. It also includes a discussion section that is meant to facilitate understanding and learning by exploring various perspectives and issues that arose during the investigation. Being in the "black" means that you're in an area that the fire has already burned. In an interview with The Times, McDonough spoke about the controversy.