BREAKING NEWS

Ninteen firefighters killed battling Arizona blaze

By REUTERS

JULY 1, 2013 07:11

PHOENIX - A team of 19 firefighters were killed battling a fast-moving wildfire that has forced the evacuation of two small towns in central Arizona on Sunday, fire officials said.

The firefighters perished in the so-called Yarnell Hill Fire, near the small town of Yarnell about 80 miles (128 km) northwest of Phoenix, the US 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.

"It was a hand crew, a hot shot crew. In normal circumstances, when you're digging fire lines, you make sure you have a good escape route, and you have a safety zone set up. Evidently, their safety zone wasn't big enough, and the fire just overtook them. By the time the other firefighters got in, they didn't survive," Morrison said.

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