“THE STORM WAS ANTICIPATED, IT WAS FORECAST, EVERYBODY KNEW IT,” Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health, (ADOSH), Marshall Krotenberg, the safety agency’s lead investigator said.
The Arizona commission that oversees workplace safety blamed the state’s Forestry Division on Wednesday for the June deaths of 19 firefighters, saying fire officials knowingly put protection of property ahead of the firefighters safety and should have pulled crews out earlier. The ruling by the state Industrial Commission came after its investigative agency released its findings and recommended citations and financial penalties. The commission levied a $559,000 fine. The ADOSH report was a stinging rebuke of a previous investigation commissioned by the Forestry Division which found that state fire officials communicated poorly but followed proper procedures when the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots were killed near Yarnell, Arizona.
The ADOSH investigation said that state fire officials lacked key personnel to battle the Yarnell Hill Fire at critical times. Krotenberg told the commission there should have been officers to ensure firefighters’ safety, a planning section chief and a division supervisor who was not replaced after he abandoned his post. Krotenberg told commissioners that fire managers should have removed firefighters an hour before the thunderstorm arrived. He also said that senior fire managers had already determined that the town itself was indefensible.
Carrie Dennett, spokeswoman for the Forestry Division, said the agency fully cooperated with the investigation but declined further comment. The Forestry Division has 15 days to appeal. Governor Jan Brewer’s office also declined comment, citing pending litigation.
The bulk of the proposed fine is $475,000 which is $25,000 for each of the 19 deaths. That money will be paid to the firefighters’ families. They were employed by the city of Prescott but working under a standing contract with the state Forestry Division. The ADOSH investigation found that the city of Prescott was in compliance with standards for training and crew rest. The fire destroyed more than 100 homes and burned 13 square miles before it was fully contained on July 10.
Dan Parker, whose son Wade Parker was killed, is a firefighter himself in northern Arizona. He said it’s time for the state “to change the coach. As far as blaming somebody at this point, right now, on a personal level, I think it’s futile. But having been a captain on a fire engine, and worked in the fire service as long as I have, I know that if I was involved in an incident where somebody was injured or killed, then my butt would have been on the hot seat and I would have been held accountable.”
We ask for your prayers for these fallen heroes and for their families who have been devastated by the loss of their loved ones.