Sudden Turn in Flames Doomed Firefighters .... Wall street Journal

[Botany]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323936404578579600222810048.html

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But late Sunday afternoon, the firefighters radioed from their positions on the ground that they were in trouble. A short time later, a helicopter pilot reported to the Arizona State Forestry's dispatch center in Phoenix that firefighters were attempting to shelter themselves west of Yarnell under fire-shelter covers, a heat-resistant specialty fabric made of aluminum foil, woven silica, and fiberglass—their last line of defense.

Smoky conditions and heat made it difficult to check on the firefighters. "It felt like forever," said Carrie Dennett, state fire-prevention officer for Arizona State Forestry. What rescuers eventually found was that the men had been caught in a "burn over," a sudden change in the direction of the fire that overtook them faster than they could get out of the way, according to a spokesman with the Prescott Fire Department.

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Experts said wildfires can create their own weather conditions, generating winds in sometimes unpredictable directions. This can happen when the clouds that form above fires from water in the smoke get so heavy they collapse, said Wally Covington, professor of fire ecology at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. "When it does that, the winds go out in all directions," he said.

Mr. Covington added that the fire shelters used by firefighters offer limited protection—usually no more than 10 minutes or so under what he called moderate fire conditions. "But under an extreme condition, they may not work," he said, adding suffocation from smoke is often the cause of fatalities.



The last picture of the Granite Mt. Hot Shots sent by text by one of the fire fighters to his wife.

[WovenGems]

1. No need

We all knew as soon as they said 19 dead that the wind shifted.