A look at deadly U.S. fire crew incidents
Here is a look at some of the deadliest U.S. tragedies to have claimed the lives of wildland firefighters, including the 19 killed in an Arizona blaze Sunday:
- June 30, 2013: Nineteen members of an elite crew are killed in a fire northwest of Phoenix that lit up the night sky in the forest above the town of Yarnell. The fast-moving blaze fueled by hot, dry conditions is the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least 30 years.
- Aug. 5, 2008: Nine people were killed when a helicopter crashed shortly after taking off with a load of firefighters heading back to camp in Northern California. Seven of the dead were firefighters with Grayback Forestry Inc. The crew was fighting a forest fire on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest outside Redding, Calif.
- Aug. 24, 2003: Eight contract firefighters who had spent two weeks fighting an Idaho wildfire were killed on their way home when their van collided with a tractor-trailer and exploded into flames outside Vale, Ore. The firefighters, all men, worked for First Strike Environmental, a contract firefighting company and all were from Oregon.
- July 10, 2001: Four firefighters died in the Thirtymile Fire in Okanogan National Forest in Washington State.
- July 6, 1994: A blaze near Glenwood Springs, Colo., killed 14 firefighters who were overtaken by a sudden explosion of flames. The lightning-sparked Storm King Mountain blaze roared through shrubs as the firefighters scrambled uphill. Thirty-five firefighters on the mountain that day survived.
- June 26, 1990: The rapidly spreading Dude fire in the Tonto National Forest near Payson in eastern Arizona trapped 11 firefighters, killing six of them.
- July 16-17, 1976: The Battlement Creek Fire killed five firefighters in Grand Valley (now Parachute), Colo., including the pilot of a B-26 air tanker which crashed while dropping retardant. Three other firefighters were killed while working a burn-over.
- November 1, 1966: Thirteen "hotshots" were killed while fighting the Loop Fire in Angeles National Forest in California.
- November 25, 1956: Eleven men died fighting the Inaja Fire, at the Cleveland National Forest in California.
- July 9, 1953: The Rattlesnake fire in Southern California took the lives of 15 firefighters battling a blaze in Mendocino National Forest.
- Aug. 5, 1949: The Mann Gulch fire near Helena, Mont., killed 12 smokejumpers and a forest ranger after they were overrun by flames. Their story was memorialized in the book "Young Men and Fire" by Norman Maclean, who also wrote "A River Runs Through It."
- August 31, 1937: In Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming, 15 firefighters were trapped and killed when a change in weather caused flames to change direction.
- Oct. 3, 1933: The Griffith Park wildfire in Los Angeles killed 29 firefighters. More than 150 other people were injured.