Tired crews on Tuesday sought help from the weather against a fierce Arizona wildfire that already has killed 19 of their fellow firefighters in the worst wildland fire tragedy in 80 years. Fire managers say the Yarnell Hills fire, which has burned 3,400 hectares of dry scrub and grasslands northwest of Phoenix, was zero percent contained as night came Monday. The lightning-sparked fire, which broke out Friday afternoon near the community of Yarnell, has burned about 200 buildings, mostly homes. On Sunday, an elite team of 19 firefighters died in the fire after they were surrounded by wind-driven flames in seconds, before some could hide in personal shelters. The men were trapped as a wind storm developed and the fire suddenly exploded Sunday, said Peter Andersen, a former Yarnell fire chief who was helping the firefighting effort. "The smoke had turned and was blowing back on us," he said. "It looked almost like a smoke tornado, and the winds were going every way." Sunday's tragedy in Arizona marked the highest death toll among firefighters from a U.S. wildland blaze since 29 men died battling the Griffith Park fire of 1933 in Los Angeles, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
