Chris Carlson / AP
Firefighters gather during a memorial service in Prescott, Ariz., on Monday.
By Henry Austin, NBC News contributor
Firefighters battling the Arizona blaze that killed 19 elite colleagues faced a tough task on Tuesday amid an excessive heat warning issued by the?National Weather Service.
Gusting winds of up to 20 mph threatened to fan the flames near Yarnell, Arizona, and officials were wary about propane tanks known to be in the town of 700 people.
The dead firefighters' colleagues continued to battle the raging blaze that by 9:30 p.m. local time Monday (11:30 p.m. ET) was zero percent contained. More firefighters are expected to join the 500-strong group.
In Prescott, Ariz., it was supposed to be the biggest week of the year, with the town's annual rodeo getting underway, but now the entire town is grieving for the 19 firefighters who died battling the Yarnell Hill blaze. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.
As the community began to mourn the loss of the men decribed as ?heroes" by President Barack Obama, medical examiners were due to begin carrying out autopsies in the wake of the area's ?largest mass-casualty event in memory.?
A short candelit vigil was held when the Granite Mountain Hotshots' bodies arrived in Phoenix on Monday, a bell rung after each name was read aloud.
Authorities confirmed the victims of Sunday's tragedy were: Anthony Rose, 23; Eric Marsh, 43; Robert Caldwell, 23; Clayton Whitted , 28; Scott Norris, 28; Dustin Deford, 24; Sean Misner, 26; Garret Zuppiger, 27; Travis Carter, 31; Grant McKee, 21; Travis Turbyfill, 27; Jesse Steed, 36; Wade Parker, 22; Joe Thurston, 32; William Warneke, 25; and John Percin, 24; Kevin Woyjeck, 21; Chris MacKenzie, 30; and Andrew Ashcraft, 29.
More than 1000 people also gathered at a Prescott University gym to honor the firefighters' bravery, according to NBC station?KVOA.
The crowd rocked children in their arms, wiped tears away and applauded robustly as a number of people paid tribute to their bravery, the station reported.
The 19 firefighters who died in Arizona's Yarnell Hill fire were overrun by flames as they attempted to fight the monster blaze. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
Mary Rasmussen of the Southwest Area Incident Management Team said crews would focus on the eastern flank of the fire, where structures in Yarnell and Peeple?s Valley were threatened. They remained under evacuation orders.
The Arizona Forestry Commission will also launch an investigation in what went wrong during the deadly incident, spokesman Mike Reichling confirmed last night.
?They were caught in a very bad situation,? he told AZ Central. We have to get to the bottom of what went wrong with that particular team.? ?
He added that after the wind changed, each of the firefighters had deployed their emergency shelters -- a flame retardent device designed to deflect the heat and flames.
Not all of the bodies were found inside them. ??
Peter Andersen, a former Yarnell fire chief who was helping the firefighting effort, told Reuters that a ranger helicopter crew flying over the area had spotted the Granite Mountain Hotshots. ?
"There was nothing they [the helicopter crew] could do to get to them," he said.?
Reuters contributed to this report.
David Kadlubowski / The Arizona Republic via AP
Nineteen firefighters - all members of an elite response team - were killed Sunday battling a fast-moving wildfire in Arizona, marking the deadliest single incident for firefighters since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials said.
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This story was originally published on Tue Jul 2, 2013 5:25 AM EDT
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