Correction posted 6:37 p.m., Feb. 16, 2014: An earlier post incorrectly stated that the material included in the 40-page Blue Ridge Hotshot report was based on interviews with the firefighters. The report is actually a compilation of written statements provided by Blue Ridge Hotshots to federal officials soon after the June 30, 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire.
The Arizona Industrial Commission has released a heavily redacted copy of written reports made by members of the Blue Ridge Hotshots that were provided to federal officials concerning the events leading up to the deaths of 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots last June 30.
The descriptions by the firefighters provide important new details on the chaotic conditions throughout June 30. InvestigativeMEDIA will provide a complete analysis of this report and additional information in the near future.
A copy of the Blue Ridge report is here.
InvestigativeMEDIA is releasing the Blue Ridge report to encourage public participation and vigorous discussion in the analysis of important public records related to the Yarnell Hill Fire.
The 40-page Blue Ridge report was graciously provided to InvestigativeMEDIA by Elizabeth Nowicki, who obtained the document through a request filed under the Arizona Public Records Law.
© Copyright 2014 John Dougherty, All rights Reserved. Written For: Investigative MEDIA
Reading all 40 pages has offered not a glimmer of hope to me, as to why this occurred.
Fairly useless documents, in my opinion…
John, the materials that you posted are not actually “interviews” of the Blue Ridge Mountain Hotshots. Rather, the day after the June 30 Granite Mountain Hotshot tragedy at the Yarnell Hill Fire, 13 of the guys on the Blue Ridge crew wrote out notes of what they recall from June 30th. That is what is contained in the 40 pages that you posted on this blog post. FYI, I believe it is incredibly unfair to consider these 40 pages in isolation, outside the context of ALL of the material that is available from June 30th and the days immediately after.