Faulty Radio Communications may have led to Deaths of 19 Firefighters

An investigation into the deaths of nineteen firefighters in Arizona on June 30th has found that inadequate communication may nave played a significant role in their fate. The dead men, all members of an elite unit called the Granite Mountain Hotshots died when they were overrun by a wildfire near the town of Yarnell. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, takes a look at what the report has to say:
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It is a sobering and detailed report that investigators put together to try to ascertain what happened, why it happened and to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.

Because there were no survivors, investigators relied on recordings of radio transmissions, eyewitness accounts of fire incident managers and neighboring crews, including pilots flying tankers dropping flame retardant and helicopter pilots.

The report's key findings on communications:

"Radio communications were challenging throughout the incident. Some radios were not programmed with appropriate tone guards. Crews identified the problem, engaged in troubleshooting, and developed workarounds so they could communicate using their radios.

And, this telling conclusion:

"Radio traffic was heavy during critical times on the fire."

Did it mean the Hot Shots trying to escape to what they thought was a nearby safe zone - a ranch - weren't able to cut in on the traffic?

Here's more, quoting from the 122-page investigation report:

"Although much communication occurred among crews throughout the day, few people understood Granite Mountain’s intentions, movements, and location, once they left the black."

The black is considered a safe zone.

Quoting again from the report:

"The Team believes this is due to brief, informal, and vague radio transmissions and talk-arounds that can occur during wildland fire communications.

"Based on radio conversations, Operations and other resources had concluded the Granite Mountain IHC was located in the black, near the ridge top where they had started that morning. This resulted in confusion about the crews actual location at the time of search and rescue."

Finally, the investigative team made some key recommendations to the state of Arizona and the National Wildfire Coordination group.

Among them, increasing resource tracking, communications and real time weather information.

And, putting together an interagency task force to conduct a further analysis of what happened, as well as examining the human factors and wildland fire communications.
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The report describes radio communications during the time of the fire as being very challenging. (K7DB, Yarnell Hill Fire Investigation)

Reported by Mark Abramowicz, NT3V