When tragedy occurs and life is lost in the close-knit community of wildland firefighting, it reverberates deeply with all firefighters and their families.

“You’re automatically connected to them, and because the community is so small, you know you’ve probably worked alongside some of them at some point,” said Alex Robertson, deputy fire staff officer with Central Oregon Fire Management Services. “When you hear about a tragedy like what happened in Arizona, you know it’s going to be one of those events you’re going to remember forever where you were when you heard about it.”

On Sunday, 19 firefighters, all part of the Prescott Granite Mountain Hotshots team, were killed in the still-growing, 8,000-acre-plus central Arizona Yarnell Hill Fire. All 19 had deployed their emergency fire shelters when changing wind conditions and other factors caused the fire behavior to change, according to a spokesman with the Arizona State Forestry Division. The emergency shelters are tent-like structures meant to shield individual firefighters from heat, flames and deadly gases in the event they’re overtaken by a fire.

Robertson was just 21 when, in July 1994, he and 19 other firefighters from the Prineville Interagency Hotshot Crew were sent to battle a wildland fire on Storm King Mountain, known as the South Canyon Fire, in Colorado. Before the day was over, nine of his crew members, and five other firefighters from other crews also battling the inferno, were dead, killed when they were overtaken by the fast-moving blaze.

Now a 23-year industry veteran, Robertson trains young firefighters to avoid situations like the one that claimed the lives of nearly half his crew.

“So many changes came about within the organization as a result of the South Canyon Fire,” Robertson said. “But all it takes is one missed judgment, one bit of bad luck in some of these situations, and you’re going to have another tragedy.”

At the time, it was one of the deadliest incidents in the history of wildland firefighting.

“Whenever there is a loss within the firefighting family, we all feel it,” said Kate Goossens, spokeswoman for the Central Oregon Fire Management Service who began her career as a wildland firefighter. “We have all gotten ourselves into a pickle at some point. This is a real tragedy, and I’m sure many firefighters are upset about it.”

Robertson said he’s never been in a situation where he was forced to deploy his emergency fire shelter. He goes through annual refresher training meant to remind firefighters how to give themselves the best chance of survival in the event the fire shelter is their only defense.

“When things are that dire, the chances of survival aren’t great,” he said. “It’s a very last resort. The deaths in Arizona are an example about how sometimes firefighters are just in the wrong place at exactly the right time. It’s very sad and goes to show this is a very difficult job.”