hot shots firefighters killed in colorado

On the way back, the unit stopped in Glenwood Springs and then climbed Storm King Mountain, where 14 firefighters died in 1994. Those who first responded to the Yarnell Hill Fire sat in the rows behind them.ĭarrell Willis, a Prescott Fire Department division chief, said he traveled with the crew a couple of years ago when they fought a fire in Colorado. Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo gave the tools to the firefighters’ families, along with flags that had been flown in their honor.Īlumni of the Granite Mountain Hotshots sat in the front rows, with about 1,000 members of the fallen firefighters’ families surrounding them in seats on the floor of the arena. Lined up in front of the stage were 19 sets of firefighting gear, complete with commemorative Pulaski tools similar to the ones the elite crew uses to dig lines around fires. Inside, each firefighter’s name scrolled across an electronic board on two sides of the minor league hockey arena. A bronze statue of a wildland firefighter, with an ax in hand, stood in front as if guarding the arena. Outside, each of the 19 firefighters was represented by a U.S. “Thank you, and I miss my brothers,” McDonough said after the prayer. The prayer ends: “For if this day on the line … I should answer death’s call … Lord, bless my hot shot Crew … My family, one and all.” He was serving as a lookout and wasn’t in the immediate burn zone.Ī stone-faced McDonough filed onto the stage at the end of the service and offered what’s called “The Hot Shot’s Prayer” after being hugged by other firefighters, Brewer and Biden. One member, 21-year-old Brendan McDonough, survived. The 19 men - members of the Prescott-based Granite Mountain Hotshots - were overcome by smoke and fire June 30 while battling a blaze on a mountain above the tiny community of Yarnell, about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix. “An elite unit in every sense of that phrase.” “These men were some of the strongest, most disciplined, tenacious, physically fit men in the world,” Biden said. John McCain and his wife, Cindy, and other members of the state’s congressional delegation. Homeland Security Secretary and former Arizona Gov. The memorial in Prescott Valley began with a choir singing “On Eagle’s Wings” as Biden sang along from the sidelines. Jan Brewer and Vice President Joe Biden, who called them “men of uncommon valor” while thanking God that one member of the crew survived unhurt. Nineteen Arizona firefighters who died when an out-of-control wildfire overran them were honored Tuesday by thousands of fellow firefighters and law enforcement officers, Gov.

Hot shots firefighters killed in colorado