A total of 19 firefighters killed Sunday in Arizona while trying to stop a fast-moving wildfire from a small town in central Arizona.

The fire was in the town of Yarnell in the Yarnell hills, which is 80 miles northwest of Phoenix. The 19 firefighters killed Sunday were attempting to put an end to the blaze that was getting worse at every moment.

Steve Skurja, a spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office told the New York Times that there are still active fires in the area, but after searches, 19 firefighters killed Sunday in total from these wildfires.

"This is as dark a day as I can remember," Arizona's governor, Jan Brewer, said in a statement. "It may be days or longer before an investigation reveals how this tragedy occurred, but the essence we already know in our hearts: fighting fires is dangerous work," she said. "When a tragedy like this strikes, all we can do is offer our eternal gratitude to the fallen, and prayers for the families and friends left behind. God bless them all."

They were members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a specialist team of wildfire fighters based in Prescott, Ariz., said Mike Reichling, a spokesman for the Tempe Fire Department. The 19 firefighters killed Sunday were not identified.

"It started on Friday with a lightning strike, and it's grown," Reichling told the Times, citing weather conditions on Sunday. The fire is spread across "well over 2,000 acres," he said, and had "brought down half of the town of Yarnell. It has decimated that town."

According to government figures, the fire Sunday represents the largest number of firefighters killed in one wildfire since a 1933 blaze in California which killed 25, and the largest loss of firefighters since 341 died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Times reported.