by Brian Skoloff
Rescue personnel who arrived on the scene where 19 firefighters died last month battling a ferocious Arizona blaze found sheer devastation described as a "moonscape" after an inferno so intense that only the metal part of one chain saw was found, according to records obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.
After the crew's last radio communication indicated that they were deploying their shelters, air support was called in to search for them and provide medical assistance if necessary.
The records provided by the Arizona Department of Public Safety offer a glimpse into the difficult attempts to reach the men and the gruesome scene on the ground.
Pilots reported thick smoke, intense heat and blowing ash and dust making it difficult to land anywhere near their last known location.
Their yellow packs could be seen from the air, some appearing to have been burned.
An Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter was eventually able to touch down about 500 yards from the site. One member of the rescue team hiked toward the men.
"As I got closer to the site I could hear voices coming from the area of the shelters. I yelled up to the shelters repeatedly but received no response," the official wrote in the records.
It turned out the voices were coming from the dead firefighters' radios.
"The ground around the deployment site was black and crusted with no visible vegetation and only occasional black branches sticking out of the ground," the report stated. "I can best describe the area as a moonscape."
The man reported finding a chain saw "that had only metal left on it" not far from the bodies, along with an ax head, its handle gone, likely burned in the flames.
A check of the men found "obvious rigor and no breathing or signs of life." Incident command was made aware that all 19 men had died as the first rescue personnel on the scene reported "firefighters were located in various positions around and under the shelters, obviously deceased and burned beyond recognition."
A horrible example of what "management" by the enviros and the courts have brought us.
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