Arizona: Lawsuit settled Two Years After 19 hotshots Firefighters Died fighting Yarnell Hill Fire #AZFire

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Arizona: Lawsuit settled Two Years After 19 hotshots Firefighters Died fighting Yarnell Hill Fire #AZFire

Lawsuit settled 2 years after 19 hotshots Firefighters died fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire

Yarnell Hill Fire lawsuits settle for $670,000, reforms

19 hotshots Firefighters died fighting theYarnell Hill Fire (Photo: David Kadlubowski/The Republic/azc)

PHOENIX — Arizona will pay $670,000 to the families of the 19 hotshots who died fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire and will implement new wildland firefighting procedures to improve safety in a global settlement of litigation stemming from the 2013 fire.

Tuesday is the second anniversary of the blaze in which the Granite Mountain Hotshots perished.

Questions remain about what went wrong that day and who was responsible for the deaths of the firefighters. Today's settlement announcement means some questions might never be answered.

"I don't know that we're ever going to know every detail of that fateful day," said attorney Pat McGroder, who represents 12 families of fire victims. But McGroder said assigning blame and collecting damages was not what family members sought.

"That's not what this case is about," McGroder said at a news conference announcing the settlement. "Our clients wanted transparency and change" as a legacy for their loved ones.

The settlement still faces formal approval from a judge and state officials.

"Ultimately, this settlement doesn't assign blame," Attorney General Mark Brnovichsaid. "State agencies aren't admitting any guilt or negligence.
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CFN - California Fire News 2013

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Tuesday, June 30, 2015