Yarnell Hill Fire report

On Saturday, the Arizona State Forestry Division released the findings about the deaths of the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots at the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30th. The report can be found HERE

I figured I would write a blog about this because I have an opinion and the topic and it's future implications for fighting wildfires have an impact on my life as my dad and brother both are fire fighters during the summer seasons.

To start, I appreciate the care that the investigative team took to look at it in a present form instead of looking a the event retroactively. Too many times people look at events in hindsight and say that that was totally preventable because of what we know after the event occurs. However, the investigation tried to step into the crew's shoes and understand what they knew at the time and what they were seeing at the time through interviews, photos, texts, radio communications, etc.

They concluded that the decisions made were by no means out of the scope of reasonable thought and no blame or accusation was placed on anyone for what transpired. Given the timeline of events, the crew made decisions based on information that they had and that they felt were smart decisions given the circumstances. I agree.

After reading the report, I fully feel like the crew left the 'black" ("black" refers to a safe area already burned of vegetation) to do their job and help save the town of Yarnell to the best of their abilties instead of sitting around watching it burn. For a firefighter, that is your job and that's what I feel like the crew was doing. And you can't go blaming a crew for wanting to do their job and help save someone's property and potentially their life.

There were two issues that I found that should have been taken care of more specifically on the day that they died. One, some radios were not working properly to the tones of the fire frequencies. That meant that certain individuals may not have been getting the correct info or getting garbled transmissions. They had worked around it by allowing those with malfunctioning radios to use others, but still a concern as not everyone had fully functioning communications.

And number two, the decision to hike off the two track road they were on, lose sight of the front of the fire and move into an overgrown bowl of vegetation. No matter how you look at it, losing a clear line of sight on the fire is a bad decision. You have no lookout, you are knowingly walking into closed off area up hill from the fire front and very little chance of climbing out in any expeditious manner if the fire advances. Given the information from the report, the crew had no idea that the wind would shift direction again and run up into the bowl that they had climbed down into and that has to be considered. But, the decision to walk into the bowl itself is a tough one to take.

Overall, I think there are going to be a lot of lessons learned from this tragedy and I am thankful that things will improve. Overall, firefighting is incredibly safe despite the danger that can and does exist. My father has been doing it for nearly 30 years and my brother for 5 and they have never had an issue. Most stories of firefighters follow the same line of safety that my family has. It is unfortunate that reality has to strike occasionally for us to see that it is still a dangerous profession and only getting more dangerous as more urban interface grows, the climate becomes more hot and more dry and the budgets for prevention and suppression continue to shrink.

We pray for their families and all the families of firefighters who willingly decide to put themselves in harm's way for the benefit of others.

LCMS Nationl Youth Gathering

Every three years, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) throws a huge party! 25,000+ youth show up and bring down whatever town it's in and praise the one and only true God until their voices are hoarse from screaming, their feet are swollen from walking and their adult leaders are ready for a good long nap coma. They call it the LCMS National Youth Gathering. 

This year, San Antonio played their part and they played it well. They were awesome, to say the least. The police were on top of their traffic control, the restaurants served us until they literally ran out of food some nights and the locals wanted to be a part of the energy. Cause honestly, you can't help feeling the vibe when 25,000 young people are wandering the streets with awesome respect, loud voices and God's love showing through their hearts. 

I am going to avoid too many details of the trip and let some photos do the talking. But, I do want to say how proud I am of my youth group. Three years ago, the Gathering was held in New Orleans, Louisiana. I was too old to attend as a participant, but pretty much made the decision, that unless I was physically incapable of attending, I would never miss one of these celebrations ever again. And so, the door was opened for those a little too old to attend as a participant to volunteer as a Young Adult Volunteer, also known as a YAV. My first experience as a YAV was incredible. It was much more liberating to see the Gathering from the inside and have zero restraints on how I wanted to best experience everything that it could offer. I was a on a team of other young adults who did the ushering for the morning bible studies and the Mass Events at night; which are big parties with music, skits, testimonies and extra thrills thrown in that happen each night of the Gathering. We had so many people attend the Gathering that in New Orleans, we were housed in the Super Dome and last week in San Antonio, we were in the Alamodome!I was blessed enough in San Antonio to not only be able to volunteer again, but lead a team of volunteers and usher the Mass Events once again!

On top of these nightly hooplahs, they have on-site servant events, off-site servant events, basketball courts, indoor ziplines, concerts, speakers, university booths, photo booths, internet cafes, obstacle courses, drum circles, volleyball courts, blood drives and so much more to keep all these kids occupied in between nightly parties. And the party doesn't stop there, they have night life activities at certain hotels where participants can keep the party going even after the Mass Events.

To say that this isn't some of these kids best week of their lives is probably an understatement. These Gatherings are a huge reason why I am where I am in my spiritual walk. I probably never would have become a youth leader in the first place.

When we went to New Orleans, We had 4 kids, 2 adults and myself as a volunteer representing our church. Not bad for a congregation with roughly 140 members. However, in three short years, we sent 12 kids, 5 adults and 2 volunteers! Praise God! I was mostly absent from the youth during the week because I was busy with my duties as a volunteer, but when I met up with them after the Gathering conclusion, they asked me to lead the final bible study for the week. When that bible study turned into an absolutely moving testament of the growth of faith, I was floored. My prayer was that these kids would find some piece of God during the week. They were all in different places in their walks and I just wanted them to find a piece. They found a whole pie. Many are now talking about going to the Concordia University system for college. Some are already going to Christian universities this fall. 

As I look forward to the move in less than a month, I can't help but thank God for the chance to celebrate with these kids one last time. They have taught me more about my faith than I have probably taught them as their youth leader. 

For more photos, please visit www.bonessphoto.com

My Youth Group, Pre Gathering.

Some of my Team of YAVs at Charlie wants a Burger for dinner.

Looking good in their Sunday best for a special Gathering workers Worship service.

At Lulu's for 3 lb cinnamon rolls!

Writing cards for terminally ill kids.

A little drag never hurt anybody.

All of Team Durango in our place of work.

I can't even photograph all the people in the Alamodome at one time there were so many!

4th of July fireworks.

Youth Group - Post Gathering.