Residents of Arizona are reeling from the deaths of nineteen firefighters yesterday -- members of an elite firefighting team who perished while battling a fast-moving wildfire.
The victims were members of the Granite Mountain Crew, a squad of highly trained firefighters who specialized in wilderness fires and had battled blazes in several western states in recent months. News sources are reporting that in an effort to save themselves, the men deployed emergency fire shelters intended to shield them from the heat and offer breathable air.