The Los Angeles Times is noting that “an extensive and intriguing story in a Phoenix newspaper suggests that there might be more to the deaths of 19 elite firefighters this summer than just a freak storm that whipped the fire near Yarnell, Ariz., around them, cutting off their escape.”

The Times is referring to InvestigativeMEDIA’s feature on the Granite Mountain Hotshots that was also published in the Phoenix New Times.

“There have been angry outcries against anyone who even suggests the possibility of human error in the Yarnell fire,” writes Karin Klein. “Some of the hotshot team’s supporters have said that even if there were shortcomings on the part of the team, they should be kept confidential, imparted only to other firefighters to prevent further harm. That’s ridiculous. Such findings wouldn’t detract from the bravery these men showed in their chosen careers or the grueling work they undertook on the part of the public. They don’t have to be enshrined as perfect human beings to be admired.

The public, which also mourns them and has an interest in preventing future tragedies, has a right to know what happened.”

By John Dougherty
InvestigativeMEDIA

Illustration Kyle T. Webster

“We are going to hallowed ground,” says Jim Paxon, spokesman for the Arizona Forestry Division, moments before leading reporters and TV crews to the site where 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were killed in a June 30 wildfire.

“They are almost superhuman,” Paxon drawls to reporters gathered on the morning of July 23. “As we go up there, there’s a Granite Mountain Hotshots shirt on a cactus. We would ask that you touch the shirt … in reverence to the loss.”

Paxon chokes up and begins describing a fissure in a granite boulder forming a cross that flanks the site where the men were incinerated by a mammoth, manzanita-fueled blowtorch. Among wildland firefighters, the oily plant is well known for its explosive characteristics. The fire was so hot that it caused some of the granite boulders to crack. [Read more…]