Backing away from earlier claims of a fabricated story, officials said the Deputy State Forester has confirmed that he made the comments attributed to him by InvestigativeMEDIA in a July 30 article in which Payne was quoted as saying the leader of the Granite Mountain Hotshots made mistakes in the moments leading up to his death and the deaths of 18 members of his crew. Read more» 
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Officials with the state Forestry Division disputed a news report Tuesday that quoted the agency's deputy director as saying the leader of the Granite Mountain Hotshots violated wildfire safety protocols when he and 18 of his firefighters were killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire. "State Forestry apologizes for (the) inappropriate expression of opinion as fact." Read more»
Eric Marsh, superintendent of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, violated safety protocols when he and 18 of his firefighters were killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30, a state Forestry official said. It appears that Marsh violated several basic wildfire rules including not knowing the location of the fire, not having a spotter observing it, and leading his crew through thick, unburned vegetation near a wildfire. Read more» 4
