A fast-moving wildfire claimed the lives of 19 US firefighters in Arizona as it continued to blaze unhindered on Monday, state officials and media said. The firefighters died Sunday when they were overrun by flames as they battled the Yarnell Hill blaze 135 kilometers north-west of Phoenix. The western United States is suffering under a record heat wave, dpa reported. It was the deadliest day for firefighters since the September 11 attacks of 2001, and the deadliest wildland fire since 1933 according to the US National Wildfire Coordinating Group. The fire is estimated to have destroyed some 250 homes, or half the town of Yarnell, the Arizona Republic said.
