4.7 • 7.2K Ratings
🗓️ 19 September 2023
⏱️ 52 minutes
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On June 28th, 2013, lightning sparks a wildfire near the town of Yarnell in central Arizona. Fueled by dry conditions, the fire quickly spreads. To contain the blaze, local officials call in elite crews of firefighters known as hotshots. One team, the Granite Mountain Hotshots, from the nearby town of Prescott, are especially eager to prove themselves. But they’ve never faced anything like the Yarnell Hill blaze.
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0:00.0 | A listener note, against the odds, uses dramatizations that are based on true events. |
0:05.7 | Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research. |
0:18.6 | Firefighter Brendan McDonough wipes the sweat off his forehead and studies a grey plume of smoke in the distance. |
0:26.0 | It's rising from a jagged line of orange flames, which are marching along a dusty, |
0:31.8 | scrub-covered ridge line about a half mile away. |
0:35.9 | It's a wildfire, and from what McDonough can tell, it now stretches for roughly two miles across the |
0:42.8 | ridge. His mouth, his parched, and he's sweating beneath his black hard hat, yellow fireproof |
0:50.1 | shirt, and thick green pants. He consults his thermometer, and he shakes his head. |
0:56.5 | Somehow, the day has gotten even hotter. |
1:00.4 | McDonough gets on his radio to call his superior officer. |
1:04.5 | Steve, it's Donut. |
1:06.8 | How's the weather? |
1:08.2 | Harder than Tabasco when asphalt. 105. |
1:11.6 | I believe in any spawn fires. |
1:15.4 | McDonough shades his eyes and scans the ridge. He's standing on a granite knoll with the fire |
1:22.0 | burning off to his right. A half mile to his left is his firefighting crew, the granite mountain |
1:28.4 | hot shots. They're sitting on some boulders resting after several hours of hard work. |
1:34.3 | They spent the afternoon clearing out juniper trees and scrub oak brush along the ridge, |
1:39.9 | trying to create what's called a fire break, a gap in vegetation, to keep the fire contained. |
1:47.2 | McDonough is acting as a lookout to make sure any embers drifting on the wind don't start a new |
1:52.5 | fire and threaten his crew. Over the radio, McDonough assures Steve that everything's fine, |
1:58.8 | but he keeps studying the landscape. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind nearly knocks him off his feet. |
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