Nineteen firefighters are dead in the biggest firefighter casualty in Arizona's history.

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UPDATE 1:00 am July 1, PDT: ABC news notes that the fire had grown to "6,000 acres as of 11:30 p.m., according to Incident Commander Mike Reichling."  Read more: click here"

UPDATE 9 pm PDT, July 1: Names of the fallen firefighters have been released.



Nineteen firefighters are dead in the biggest firefighter casualty in Arizona's history, according to ABC news. 

The Yarnell Hill Wildfire is blazing approximately 4 miles south of Yarnell, AZ, on Rt 89, just southwest of Prescott, AZ. The fire is believed to have been ignited by lightning. Lightning has caused several fires in the Prescott area in the past few days.

According to the Prescott Daily Courier, 18 of the fallen firefighters represent nearly the entire Granite Mountain Hotshot crew of Prescott. Only one member of the 19-member Granite Hotshot crew survived.



One other dead firefighter was from another crew, still unidentified.

Last week these firefighters successfully fought the Doce blaze, no structures nor lives were lost.  The Doce Fire is now 96% contained.

Due to extraordinary firefighter efforts, the largest measured Alligator Juniper tree in the US was saved from the Doce Fire last week. The tree is 46 feet tall and is 27 feet, 4 inches around. According to Northern Arizona University these trees can be 500 - 800 years old.



At least half of the 500 structures in Yarnell have been destroyed in the fire,  which grew from 8 acres to 200 acres in a few hours. There is currently no containment. click here

The average age of the firefighters who perished was 22. (Note: Later information indicated that this is actually a higher number.)

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.