YARNELL, Ariz. — The 19 firefighters who died battling an Arizona wildfire became trapped by a wall of fast-moving flames as erratic winds whipped the blaze in all directions, pushing them back into a basin surrounded on three sides by boulder-strewn mountains, authorities speculated Tuesday during a tour of the site where the men were killed.


The fire began with a lightning strike June 28, and worsened by the hour through the weekend — at one point causing flames up to 20 feet high. The elite 20-member Granite Mountain Hotshot crew was called in on the morning of June 30 to help protect the former gold-rush town in the foothills south of Prescott.

Afternoon thunderstorms and associated winds of more than 50 mph whipped the fire into an inferno as 19 of the Hotshots climbed over a ridge on the outskirts of town.

They probably saw the fire advancing on a nearby ranch and were headed there to save the structure when the blaze suddenly turned toward them. The fire forced them to retreat to a relatively flat area surrounded by mountains where they found themselves trapped, said Prescott Wildland Fire Chief Darrell Willis, who helped form the Prescott-based team.

As the wall of flames advanced, the crew quickly worked to clear the area of scrub and brush that could fuel the fire, using hatchets, chain saws and shovels, hoping they could endure the intense heat as the blaze bore down, Willis said. They deployed their emergency shelters, but the heat was too much. All 19 died at the scene. The 20th crew member, who was serving as a lookout, was the only survivor.

The blaze ended up destroying more than 100 homes before it was fully contained July 10.

On Tuesday, fire officials provided media a tour of the site where the men died, a somber return to a place where Willis described losing "19 adopted sons."

"The heat was so intense their shelters broke down," Willis said as he stood on the edge of the site, now encircled by a chain-link fence. An American flag flapped in the wind above him, draped to a pole that has been placed there as a memorial to the men.



A national team of investigators is expected to finish a report on the fire sometime in late August or early September.