Nineteen Firefighters Killed Battling Arizona Blaze

Two small Arizona towns had to be evacuated.

The firefighters perished in the so-called Yarnell Hill Fire, near the small town of Yarnell about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix, the U.S. Wildland Fire Aviation service said in a Facebook post.

“It has been confirmed that 19 wildland firefighters have lost their lives on the Yarnell Hill fire Arizona,” the post said, adding that the agency was asking “for prayers for the families and friends of these brave men and women.”

Art Morrison of the Arizona State Forestry Commission told CNN the firefighters, members of an elite “hot shot” team, lost their lives Sunday afternoon when they were overtaken by swiftly moving flames.

By: Cheston Catalano

Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.