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This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.

KPCC Archive

Media to tour Arizona site of 19 firefighters' deaths

Video, photos and journalist observations will soon be available of the site where 19 firefighters died while battling an Arizona wildfire. (File photo: Kevin Woyjeck (L) with other firefighters. Woyjeck was killed fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona.
Video, photos and journalist observations will soon be available of the site where 19 firefighters died while battling an Arizona wildfire. (File photo: Kevin Woyjeck (L) with other firefighters. Woyjeck was killed fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona.
(
William Twitchell's Facebook page
)

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Video, photos and journalist observations will soon be available of the site where 19 firefighters died while battling an Arizona wildfire.

Tuesday will offer the first media access to the boulder-strewn area outside Yarnell, about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix.

Nineteen members of the Prescott-based Granite Mountain Hotshots died June 30 when the wind-fueled, out-of-control blaze overran them as they tried to protect the former gold-mining town from the inferno. One member of the crew who was serving as a lookout survived.

Four of the firefighters had roots in Southern California.

The men killed were Kevin Woyjeck, the 21-year-old son of a Los Angeles County fire captain, and Hemet natives Bill Warneke, 25, Chris MacKenzie, 30, and Sean Misner, 26. 

The fire destroyed more than 100 homes before it was fully contained July 10.

A flagpole has been erected at the site as a temporary memorial to the men as officials consider something more permanent.

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A national team of investigators is looking into the deaths.

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