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Outlook: Surviving a Wildfire that Took my Crew

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The Granite Mountain Hotshots of Prescott, Arizona

07/11/2017 GMT

Surviving a Wildfire that Took my Crew

BBC World Service - Outlook, Surviving a Wildfire that Took my Crew

The Yarnell Hill Fire claimed 19 members of Brendan McDonough's firefighting crew

Brendan McDonough is the sole survivor of his 20-man firefighting crew. They perished during a blaze in Yarnell, Arizona. Brendan discusses how he's coped with the loss.

When a blaze erupted in Yarnell, Arizona, Brendan McDonough and his squad of fellow firefighters headed to the scene. But it ended in tragedy. Brendan was the only member of his 20-man crew to survive the wildfire.

Shakeel Ahmad works in Old Delhi in India with a goatskin bag full of water on his shoulders. He's one of the last bhistis who for centuries have catered for thirsty vendors and pilgrims in these busy alleyways where fresh water is hard to come by. But he won't be doing it for much longer: new technologies are putting him and his kind out of business. 

In 1973 a plane crashed on a black-sand beach in Iceland. It was a United States Military aircraft. While everyone survived, the plane wreckage was never taken away. 

Scientist Andy Brunning, from Cambridge in the UK, specialises in figuring out the chemistry of bad smells.

(Picture credit: Christopher MacKenzie.)

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