Welcome to Killing Killers, worldwide headquarters of author/blogger Eponymous Rox


WELCOME TO KILLING KILLERS TRUE CRIME SITE.
Browse us for breaking news, missing person alerts, unsolved crimes and cold cases. Plus explore interviews, photos, case updates and brand new evidence in our ongoing 'Smiley Face Murder' investigation.
Never heard of the Smiley Face Killers before?
Start here. New guests, are you investigating a loved one's suspicious disappearance and drowning? Begin with a look at the forensics of a true drowning and the complete Smiley Face Serial Killer case background. Then read in-depth interviews with families of other 'Smiley' victims, by author Eponymous Rox.


ABOUT KILLING KILLERS' BLOGGER: Eponymous Rox covers cops, curs and killers and has been featured in Crime Magazine and on NBC. The author is also a regular paid-contributor to CrimeMagazine.com, the Gather News agency and Yahoo's Associated Content. JUMP IN: The majority of cases presented on this site are unsolved so your opinion counts -- you don't need permission to start or join discussions, vote in crime polls or submit tips on Killing Killers, and can even do so anonymously if you prefer.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

BURNED ALIVE: Deaths of 19 firefighters killed in Arizona wildfire investigated

YARNELL FIRE: HOW WERE 19 FIREFIGHTERS  KILLED IN ARIZONA?
 
That's the question investigators are asking right now in the wake of one of the worst firefighting tragedies since 9/11 took the lives of over 300 of New York City's fearless firemen.
 
In the immediate aftermath of the Yarnell fire this week, no one was sure yet what went wrong that could have caused all but one member of Granite Mountain's elite 'Hotshot' unit -- Brendan McDonough -- to perish in a mountainside inferno.
 
Lone survivor and lookout of the Yarnell fire Brendan McDonough
 
Erratic summer winds, record high temperatures, tinderbox conditions from an unprecedented drought, and perhaps even a deliberate refusal to heed danger or follow lifesaving protocols because the doomed crew members were defending home territory, are all factors currently being explored.
 
As well, questions surrounding lone survivor McDonough's role in failing to divert the carnage have also been posed, and it's too soon to tell if he's answering these satisfactorily.
 
As it turned out, Brendan McDonough was spared the same grisly death as his teammates, he says, only because the 21-year-old was stationed at a lookout point well away from the main fire zone.
 
There, he had been positioned to observe and advise his colleagues on the ground in order to safeguard them as they worked and, if necessary, tell the crew when to drop everything and retreat.
 
But that didn't happen, or at least not in time. And, even though each man allegedly managed to deploy a fireproof tent at the last minute, the heat and duration of the flames that engulfed the group was just too intense for their apparatus to protect them.
 
All 19 firefighters killed in Arizona, ranging in age from their early 20s to early 40s, burned to death in the Yarnell fire while McDonough fled to safety.
 
As a result, nearly a dozen state and federal agencies are now feverishly working side by side to determine once and for all: Was it an accident? Negligence? Or homicide?
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment