“When I heard they died pretty close together, I couldn’t have imagined it any other way. They had each other’s backs to the end. They went as 19 brothers and they came out as 19 brothers.”
–John Nelson, neighbor of two of the firefighters.
Brendan McDonough, the only surviving members of the Granite Mountain Hot Shot Team, walked up to the microphone to honor his nineteen fallen colleagues.
Voice quivering, he looked out at the over 6,000 assembled in Tim’s Toyota Center on July 9, 2013 in Prescott, Arizona. He knew there were thousands more outside.
He seemed uncomfortable with the thunderous applause that accompanied his walk to the stage. He stood straight and read the Hot Shots Prayer.
The last verse summed up the feeling in the auditorium.
“…For if this day on the line,
I should lose my life,
Lord bless my Hot Shot Crew
My Family, one and all.”
Looking out at the 19 families gathered and the many firefighter colleagues, he said in an emotion choked voice, “Thank you and I miss my brothers.”
On June 30, the Hot Shot crew set out to attack a fire on Yarnell Hill. They had just finished fighting the Doce fire four days earlier. In that fire, they had been able to save one of the oldest surviving Juniper trees in the nation. That accomplishment gave them great satisfaction. They hiked a long way to reach the Yarnell fire and conditions were unstable with gusting winds and thunderstorms in the area.
At 4:30 PM, it became apparent that they were in a dangerous situation. The smoke and the winds told the crew to back off. They headed for a burned out area; spotting a ranch house, they headed for it. In the growing radio traffic, a crew member said their escape route had been cut off by the fire and they were deploying their shelters.
Helicopters could not take off to help as the wind and thick smoke made flight impossible. There were no more transmissions from the Hot Shot Crew. Thirty minutes later a helicopter was able to take off and land at the ranch house, 500 yards away from the Hot Shot crew’s last known location. The medical officer spotted equipment and some shelters. He had false hope when he heard voices. He soon realized it was the crew’s radios. At 6:35 PM, he confirmed that all nineteen were dead.
Gone in an instant were: Andrew Ashcraft (29),
Robert Caldwell (23), Travis Carter (31), Dustin Deford (24), Christopher MacKenzie (30), Eric Marsh (43), Grant McKee (21), Sean Misner (26), Scott Norris (28), Wade Parker (22), John Percin (24), Anthony Rose (23), Jesse Steed (36), Joe Thurston (32), Travis Turbyfill (27), William Warneke (25), Clayton Whitted (28), Kevin Woyjeck (21), and Garret Zuppiger (27).
Brendan McDonough had been the lookout on a hillside above the crew. He watched the movement of the wind and the fire and advised the crew to get out. McDonough moved his position. When he looked back, his lookout position was engulfed in flames. Fire Department spokesman said of McDonough, “He did his job.”
At daybreak the next morning a bulldozer created a road to the site. A twelve man crew (11 Prescott firefighters and Chino Valley Fire Chief Dan Parker, father of one of the victims) had their first glimpse of the area. “Moonscape” was used to describe the devastation. 19 body bags lay in three rows, tagged and numbered. Two firefighters placed an American flag on each body bag, an eight man team carried each victim to one of three fire trucks which made several trips down the hill to the medical examiner’s vans that were waiting to take them to Phoenix.
When the firefighters were ready to leave the area, they placed a black Hot Shot Crew T-shirt on a cactus.
The families of the victims were restless to receive their heroes back for final services. They agreed to have all of the firefighters released at one time, a week later and they did not want to have vans doing the transportation. It was decided to use all white hearses. Butch and Cathy Hampton of the Hampton Funeral Home of Prescott, who handled all 19 families, got on the phone and secured these donated vehicles.
Hearses came from all over the state. Two hearses were sent by Whitney-Murphy Funeral Home, Messinger Funeral Home, Bunker Funeral Home, and Hanson Funeral Home, and Desert Rose Funeral Home sent three. Other hearses came from Hampton Funeral Home, Westcott Funeral Home, J. Warren Funeral Home, Heritage Memory Chapel, Wyman Cremation and Burial, Mountain View Funeral Home, A.L. Moore-Grimshaw and Menke Funeral Home. United Funeral Support provided support vehicles. Ron Adair and Adair Funeral Home donated staff as did Trish Hanson and Hanson Mortuaries; Ethan Bueler, Chad and Megan from A.L. Moore-Grimshaw, George Menke and Margie Nelson gave great assistance. Companies such as Matthews, Wilbert and PBF Manufacturing all assisted in different ways. The danger of omitting names is always there, your contribution was appreciated.
The hearses met in the garage of the Maricopa Medical Examiner’s Office. Each hearse had a magnet logo of the Granite Mountain Hot Shots affixed on the driver and passenger doors. American flags were affixed on standards on the windows. Each hearse bore the name of its firefighter and an escort, specially selected, rode in each hearse. The 250-mile journey took the firefighters from Phoenix through Yarnell and to Prescott Valley to the Yavapai County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The cortege was led by fire trucks, ambulances, a support van and a spare hearse if it was needed. People lined many parts of the routes waving flags or heads bowed with tears streaming down their faces. For the families, it was just good to know they were “home”.
A large memorial service for all 19 was planned at Tim’s Toyota Center, a concert hall type venue, which is the largest in the Prescott area. 6,000 people were carefully selected to be inside and large jumbo screens were there for the thousands expected outside. Local stations broadcast live and also on the internet. Vice President Biden, Senators McCain and Flake, Governor Brewer, former Governor (and Homeland Secretary) Janet Napolitano) were among the dignitaries.
Harold Schaitberger, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters told the assembled, “Most people can’t comprehend the culture and bond of our profession…The Granite Mountain Hotshot crew spent days, weeks at a time, deployed in the wilderness together and the only thing they had for certain was each other, their professional family. We all have two families, our loving families at home and our firefighter family on the job.”
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer observed, “They were protectors, defending our communities, safeguarding our friends, families and our homes; nineteen heroes gone by the change of the wind.”
Vice President Biden gave a personal tribute to firefighters. “I didn’t have the privilege, nor did Jill have the privilege, of knowing any one of these heroes personally,” Biden said of the firefighters, “but I know them.”
He then recounted how firefighters were there when he lost his wife and daughter in a car accident; how firefighters and their EMTs were there when he had a brain aneurysm; and how firefighters saved his house when it caught on fire.
“All men are created equal, but then a few become firefighters,” Biden stated.
The next day the families were able to claim their fallen and plan their own individual funerals. Some were public and some were private observances. All were offered full honors. Military planes were made available to transport any of the nineteen victims to other areas.
A number were cremated, a number were buried in Arizona and other states.
On Wednesday, July 10, the United States Congress honored the 19 firefighters. The resolution was sponsored by Arizona’s two senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake.
“These were not men merely worth knowing – they were men to admire. They were men to emulate if you have the courage and character to live as decently and honorably as they lived.”
–Senator John McCain