A fast moving wildfire has taken the lives of at least 19 firefighters in an area 85 miles northwest of Phoenix, Arizona.

According to officials on the scene, members of the “Prescott Granite Mountain Hotshots” were on the front lines of the fire when somehow there was a shift that trapped the firefighters in the middle of the flames.

The group was the first city-based hotshot crew in the US, founded in 2008, to be one of the first groups on the scene of a wildfire.

They tried to get under protective covers but the fire was too fast for them to reach safety.

The fire has already burned 2,000 acres and caused 600 residents to evacuate their homes. Officials have not officially determined the cause but suspect lighting is behind the blaze.