Commander of Arizona firefighters reveals their final words

The true courage of the 19 Arizona firefighters who died battling a wildfire was revealed today as their commander told of their final words.

Granite Mountain Hotshots team leader Eric Marsh was said to have been the “calmest he had ever been” as he radioed in to speak to bosses.

Fire department spokesman Wade Ward said that everyone was aware how dangerous a spot the elite team was in. He said that the 19, aged between 21 and 43, “stayed together.”  “Nobody ran,” he added.

Marsh radioed in to say the group had a predetermined safety zone. Moments later, he was back on the line again to say that he and his colleagues would be deploying their emergency shelters, their last resort against the advancing blaze.

‘From what I’ve heard, it was the calmest they’ve ever heard Eric,’ fire department spokesman Wade Ward said. ‘They were in a tight spot and everyone knew this was going to be a b****. But his voice was very calm: “We’re deploying.”’

The heroic team were fighting in mountainous terrain to save a small housing complex on the outskirts of the town of Yarnell when they were beaten by the fierce smoke and flames. A thunderstorm exacerbated the conditions.

“The only thing standing between those folks and those homes were these 19 guys up on that ridge,” Jeff Knotek, who retired as Prescott Fire Department Captain on Sunday, told reporters.

“Unfortunately, the conditions they were in were not survivable.

“It was a zero-visibility situation. They couldn’t see where or what was bottom. They met a wall of flames It came around and hooked them.”

Wade described the thunderstorm as creating “the perfect storm.”

An initial post-mortem report found the firefighters died from accidental “fire-related injuries” including burns and inhalation issues. One remaining member of the unit, who had been on a lookout on higher ground, survived.

The wildfire, the deadliest in the US in 80 years, was today 85 per cent contained and is expected to be fully contained within the next week, fire officials said.