( CNN ) -- Brendan McDonough , a lookout for his elite 20-man Arizona wildfire-fighting crew , saw Sunday 's blaze change directions and warned his team by radio from his hilltop perch . The new conditions , he told them , also were forcing him to leave that spot , officials recalled Tuesday . He did as he was trained , officials said . And because he did , McDonough might have escaped his own death by seconds . McDonough was trying to go to another lookout point when the Yarnell Hill fire killed 19 members of Prescott Fire Department 's Granite Mountain Hotshots , Prescott Fire Department spokesman Wade Ward said . The incident , part of a fire that has burned more than 8,400 acres since Friday , produced the deadliest day for firefighters since the 9/11 attacks . `` He [ McDonough ] was doing what he was supposed to do , '' Ward told CNN . `` The crew was doing what they need to do . This is why they call this kind of thing an accident . '' Honoring the fallen . Ward , who confirmed McDonough 's name and job Tuesday , said McDonough is having a hard time dealing with his comrades ' deaths and was n't ready to talk . In a statement released through a fire official Tuesday , McDonough said he was grateful for the public 's `` outpouring of support towards his organization , '' and he asked for privacy for his family and his comrades ' relatives . `` Everyone can appreciate that he 's working though the process of dealing with this loss , and that could last for some time , '' said Bob Orrill , a regional incident commander helping the fire department . Opinion : When heroes face down fire -- and fate . 'His lookout had already burned over ' McDonough was overlooking his teammates when he told them the `` weather was changing rapidly , '' and winds moved the fire in a different direction , Wade told reporters Tuesday . Wade did n't have particulars , but he said the changes amounted to a `` trigger point '' -- previously agreed conditions that would require him to go to another spot . McDonough , as prescribed , told the crew he was leaving , and that `` he would contact them and they could contact him if they needed anything , '' Wade said . He went down the hill and met a supervisor of a different hotshot crew . Hotshot crews such as McDonough 's are elite teams that are called to get close to the blaze , dig barriers and clear out the brush and other material that otherwise would fuel it . McDonough turned around . He apparently left just in time . `` The location that he was at at his lookout had already burned over , '' Wade said . `` He got in ( a ) vehicle ( with the other team 's supervisor ) and was taken to a safety zone . '' Perhaps a mile or two away from McDonough 's original location -- Wade did n't know Sunday 's particulars , but he said that 's typically the distance between lookout and crew -- the fire overcame the 19 . The deaths are under investigation , but officials have said it appears the 19 were forced to lie down under fire shelters , blankets meant to protect against flames and heat , as a last resort against an inferno that overwhelmed them . Wildfire battle shadowed by losses . 'You can not immediately drop somebody in another position ' One Prescott official , speaking with Wade at the news conference in Prescott Tuesday , told reporters that it was protocol to have a hotshot lookout in place at all times . The officials there said they did n't know whether another lookout was in place when McDonough moved . Either way , Wade said , McDonough `` was doing his job and the hotshot crew was doing their job . '' `` You can not immediately drop somebody in another position , '' Wade said . `` There are lookouts in the air ... as well as other lookouts . He left his post based on protocol , and we was moving to a new position . '' The Prescott community has taken the deaths hard . Many attended a memorial service at the city 's Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus Monday . A tribute outside Prescott Fire Station No . 7 grew that day , with flowers , American flags and signs placed on or near a fence that separated the station from a road . The tokens also included 19 bottles of water , arranged in a circle . On Monday , the Prescott fire chief also told reporters -- without identifying McDonough at the time -- that the 20th member was struggling . `` Unfortunately , we have very few words to express that kind of sorrow , but we understood each other , '' Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said Monday . `` When you take a person in your arms and you hug them , you do n't have to say too much . '' How to help .
NEW : Lookout warned his team , then left post as prescribed , officials say . NEW : The lookout , Brendan McDonough , departed hilltop post just before flames came . 19 members of a `` hotshot '' team from Prescott died in an Arizona wildfire Sunday . McDonough was the only team member to survive .