[Malveaux:] This is something you usually don't see on an international president trip. Well, President Obama and former President George W. Bush standing side by side in Tanzania. That was earlier today. They were laying a wreath to honor the 11 people killed in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing in Dar es Salaa. For President Obama, Tanzania is his last stop on his African tour that also took him South Africa and Senegal. During the trip, President Obama praised Bush for his efforts in Africa while Bush backed him on criticizing the NSA leaker. And they are on a tour. They're pushing for gun control, but former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband are also showing their support for the Second Amendment by firing guns. That's right. For Giffords, it was her first time firing a weapon since a gunman shot her and killed six others in January. That was back in 2011. Well, she and her husband, Mark Kelly, they are visiting seven states to push for expanded background checks on gun purchases. They're calling it the Rights and Responsibility Tour. They visited a gun range, this was in Vegas yesterday, and today they're in Alaska. Crews battling the Arizona wildfire that killed 19 firefighters. Well, they are now getting some more help. A Pentagon official tells CNN that the military is now sending four specially-equipped C-130 planes. This is from Colorado to Arizona. We've learned that one of the planes has actually already arrived, and this the Yarnell Hill fire. This is just northwest of Phoenix. It's scorched more than 8,400 acres. That's about 13 square miles. We're talking about extreme heat, parched conditions, shifting winds, that have all made it tough to get it and get a handle on this fire. The fire fighting planes will be able to drop 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than five seconds. The 19 firefighters who died in Arizona, they were part of this elite group. They were known as hot shots. Some of them compare them to special op forces or in military Navy SEALS or Army Rangers. Well Randi Kaye shows us what it is like to be one of the best.
[Randi Kaye, Cnn Correspondent:] When hot shots get the call they head to the center of a blazing wildfire, an inferno that oftentimes only they can stop. Hot shots go where equipment can't. These elite firefighting teams are specially trained to use chain saws and pulaskis to clear brush and cut a fire line through the dirt. A line that could stretch a mile long. It's their job to hold that line. John Segar is a former hot shot.
[John Segar, Former Hotshot/national Interagency Fire Center:] When the fire burns up to that line the fire will put out embers. Some of those embers actually do cross the line and the hot shot crew or any of our fire crews will patrol the line and look for those embers and try to get to them.
[Kaye:] Segar, likened hot shot teams to military special ops units. He says they're the best of the best in wildfire suppression, highly motivated and highly trained, which is why they get the toughest assignments.
[Segar:] Their physical fitness training prior to the season, and if it's a slow season during the season, includes running, long endurance hikes. Any types of push ups, sit ups, the whole aerobics, cardio, physical fitness routine.
[Kaye:] There's a rigorous physical test to qualify as a hot shot, including a three-mile hike in 45 minutes while carrying a 45 pound pack, and a mile and a half run in ten and a half minutes or less. Because of the physical endurance required, most hot shots tend to be younger in their 20's and 30's. It's certainly not an easy gig. Hot shot crews are on call 247 during fire season, about six months out of year. They're sent to where the terrain is most severe and the weather is typically hot and dry. They are exposed to wind and dust and all kinds of poisonous plants. Crews sleep on the ground and if they are lucky they get to shower every couple of days. The job keeps them away from home for several weeks at a time working 14 days on and two days off. The hours are long too, often stretching into 16 hour shifts.
[Segar:] They travel all over the country. So, it is very difficult. It's very difficult to maintain a family life. Our firefighters adjust to that. Families adjust to it just like families in the military service adjust to it. It's not an easy life.
[Kaye:] The U.S. Forest Service says hot shot crews began in southern California in the late 1940's. They got their name hot shot from always being in the hottest part of the fire. This isn't the first devastating loss they've suffered. Back in 1994 nearly 20 years ago, nine members of the Primeville, Oregon hot shot were killed when they were trapped fighting a Colorado fire on Storm King Mountain. Some firefighters tried to survive by wrapping themselves in fireproof shelters like these just like the 19 killed in Arizona. While all hot shot team members tend to love the outdoors and thrive on a challenge, they know the dangers and what can happen when the wind shifts. Randi Kaye, CNN, Atlanta.
[Malveaux:] Our thoughts and prayers to the 19 families who lost those hot shots from that fire. We'll be right back.