A massive, fast-moving wildfire in Arizona has claimed the lives of 19 firefighters near Yarnell, AZ, about 85 miles northwest of Phoenix.

USA Today reported that as of Monday afternoon, 400 firefighters were still “trying to contain the fire on three flanks, but officials said there was ‘zero containment.’”

The 19 casualties were all members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots of Prescott, an elite firefighting team. Only one managed to escape. He was moving a truck while the fire claimed the lives of the other men. Arizona Division of Forestry incident commander Roy Hall told USA Today that the incident was under investigation.

The wife of one of the lost firefighters, Juliann Ashcraft, said that she learned of the news while watching coverage of the fire with her children. “They died heroes. And we’ll miss them. We love them.”

Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo reflected on the tragedy, saying, “The entire fire department, the entire area, the entire state is being devastated by the magnitude of this incident. We just lost 19 of some of the finest people you’ll ever meet.”

The wildfire was the result of a lightning strike, and has grown out of control since beginning Friday night, spreading from 2,000 acres to 8,400, thanks to windy and dry conditions.

In fact, those conditions might continue to pose major problems for authorities trying to get the blaze under control. According to the same USA Today report, Weather Channel meteorologist Jon Erdman called it “a nightmare scenario for firefighting.”

The loss of the 19 men in Yarnell, AZ, is the largest in an American wildland fire since 1933 when 25 died fighting the Los Angeles Griffith Park Fire. And those 19 fatalities are the most firefighters lost in one incident since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City claimed 343 members of the New York Fire Department.

President Barack Obama issued a statement from Africa on Monday, saying “Michelle and I join all Americans in sending our thoughts and prayers to the families of these brave firefighters.”

The Arizona Diamondbacks expressed their desire to help Yarnell, AZ, and raise money to help the town and the families of the fallen firefighters. “We’re talking organizationally about what we can do for the families of those firefighters who were lost in fire in Yarnell,” team President and CEO Derrick Hall said.

“Just as we remember the firefighters who ran into the Twin Towers, we will remember the brave men of the Granite Mountain hotshots,” Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said on Monday. “God bless them and their families.”