On Sunday, June 30, 2013, the emergency response community lost 19 firefighters as they battled the Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona. All of the deceased were members of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew. The entire staff of EMSI is deeply saddened by this loss and we offer our thoughts and prayers for the families and the emergency response colleagues during this time of mourning. All of us who use the Incident Command System to organize and manage incidents that occur in our area of responsibility know that ICS was born from the wildland fire community. This makes a tragedy such as this even more poignant to our organization. It also reminds us of the courage of public safety personnel and the sacrifices these resources make to keep the public safe.

To learn more about the author, Ron Cantin, click here!