Tenderfoot Fire Stokes Memories, Fears Among Yarnell Residents, Firefighters Who Haven't Forgotten

Published: Thursday, June 9, 2016 - 11:11am
Updated: Friday, June 10, 2016 - 8:35am
(Photo courtesy of Kathleen Stowe)
Smoke from the Tenderfoot Fire near Yarnell. It is 10 percent contained and has burned more than 600 acres as of June 9, 2016

Firefighters continue working to contain the Tenderfoot Fire, which started Wednesday afternoon, as the blaze has grown to about 3,300 acres.

For Yarnell’s residents and firefighters, it’s an emotional time as they find themselves in the same position as three years ago, doing whatever it takes to save their town.

The residents of Yarnell, southwest of Prescott, are a close-knit bunch. And for many, this fire stirs up painful memories of what happened in 2013, when the Yarnell Hill Fire killed 19 members of the elite Granite Mountain Hotshots fire team and destroyed homes. 

Kathleen Stowe lives in nearby Peeples Valley. She was the vice president of the Yarnell Hill Recovery Group, which helped residents who lost everything to rebuild. "Again the population was just trembling. Ambulances were coming by us to pick up some people who were elderly that were just very frightened again," she said of Tenderfoot.

This time, crews jumped into action quickly. Today, firefighters are dealing with hot, dry temperatures, and potentially dangerous winds, which is different than three years ago. Dolores Garcia with the Bureau of Land Management said, "Three years ago what we were dealing with was more of a 'monsoonal' setup where you can get those large storms in the outflow winds from those large clouds and cumulus set up."

She says some of the firefighters out there are from the area, so it’s personal and emotional for them too. Of course, this time Yarnell was more prepared.

"The community had worked to create fuel breaks, or clearing large areas of vegetation, strategically around the community, so the firefighters when they came in were able to direct the fire around the community because there was no fuel to burn or little fuel to burn," Garcia explained of the precautions people took after the Yarnell Hill Fire.

The blaze, which is suspected to be human caused, remains under investigation.

MORE: Yarnell, Peeples Valley Evacuated As Tenderfoot Fire Burns 3,300 Acres