Juliann Ashcraft's husband, Andrew, was hired as a member of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew as a temporary worker in 2011 and was named rookie of the year. 'They died heroes,' she told azcentral.com as she wept. After the viewing, prompted by curiosity, I looked (very Juliann Ashcraft, the spouse of the late firefighter Andrew Ashcraft, Her husband Andrew was 29 years old. The smell of smoke could still make Roxanne panic. Maybe, he hoped, his friends would walk out of that smoke at any minute. California faces dangerous mudslides after monster storms. attempting to get that honor on the cheap. Roxanne remembered how Billy and the other firefighterstired of MREs and protein bars. By nightfall, the fire was just 15 acres in size, though the town fire department warned residents: "Be on high alert if the wind changes direction.". As a Prescott fire official would later recount, McDonough told his team to contact him on the radio if they needed anything. A municipal firefighter, in the common use of that term, is not a wildland firefighter: Its the red truck guy, Mr. Paladini told the board, composed of four members, including two members of the Prescott Fire Department, whose Wildland Division employed the fallen firefighters, and the citys mayor, Marlin Kuykendall. Sean Kauffman, a former Granite Mountain Hotshot, paying his respects. ", "How did you hear that?" Juliann Ashcraft's husband, Andrew, was one of 19 firefighters killed battling a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona on June 30. yearning for a less complex and more homogeneous society that, I She would whisper stories to Billie Grace about her daddy long before she could possibly understand. Yet there she stood, her loss all too real. There, officials gave some details of what had happened. possibility that there might be anyone besides white people in Prescott). He had his priorities in line, but when he was there, he would tell me, They say jump and Id say, how high. Their main goal was to save lives. Over and over again, the radio crackled with a constant, heartbreaking summons: "Are you there Granite Mountain? Of course, there was no reply," she said. They took Billie Grace with them. 'It had to be a perfect storm in order for this to happen,' Prescott Fire Department spokesman Wade Ward told the Today show last month. 'That's what it takes. By 9:30 a.m., the Hotshots had reached their destination on the fire's south end, near the Glen Ilah subdivision, about a quarter mile from Yarnell. It still did not look as catastrophic as it turned out to be, but it was interesting to have that perspective, to know what life was like for him on the fire lines and know what he risked day in and day out.. A crew of 600 firefighters and related personnel had been assigned to it. Firefighters battling a blaze in Yarnell, Ariz., last year. . Off in the distance, from behind a ridge line, billowed a sickly, blackish-brown plume spreading like a bruise across the graying sky. Click here to share your story. Only the Brave is filled with conspicuous touches of heartiness, of But the city is refusing to pay Mrs Ashcraft her husband's lifetime salary and health benefits, which together are worth millions, because it insists he was among 13 of the squad who were seasonal employees rather than full-timers. 'The best person I know. Still, at first, officials determined this blaze to be small, posing no immediate threat to Yarnell's 700 residents. Mountain Hotshots was the first and only municipal Type 1 outfit in the There was a critical time period when I feel that if the city officials had shown a little bit of heart, a certain amount of caring, they could have resolved the differences, but they turned their backs on families, Dan Fraijo, Prescotts fire chief at the time of the Hotshots deaths, said in an interview. In the months that followed, tributes on storefronts, on bumper stickers and along the mesh-iron fence surrounding Station 7, the firefighters home base stood as glaring reminders of a tragedy no one here has forgotten. While his love affair with firefighting predated his romance with Juliann, there was no question which passion burned hotter. CBS News has seen paperwork showing Mr Ashcraft did infact earn a full-time salary as a firefighter for the city of Prescott. nickname Donut), but Donut masters the necessary tough physical Mr Ashcraft also sent his wife a picture of their view of the smoke and flames from his team's lunch spot on Sunday, and Juliann said that she was not particularly concerned when she saw it. It was the deadliest wildfire ever in Arizona;19 men on the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew out of Prescott were killed. (CBS News) PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- Five weeks ago, 19 men were killed fighting a wildfire near Yarnell, Ariz. second-in-command, Jesse Steed (James Badge Dale), who provides a model Another, Roxanne Warneke, who lives just outside Tucson, has. She has anew baby brother, Owen. stirring dramatization, directed by Joseph Kosinski, based on a Whats more, several of the movies main characters were involved in the dispute: Hotshot leader Eric Marshs widow, Amanda,remembers her husband talking about how Prescott officials held back on Andrew Ashcraft when he became full-time. She responded by asking whether he and his crew would be sleeping in the field that night. Hot shots involved". Jax the Staffy is rescued after being stuck in a cave for two days, Man knocked out by a pool cue in violent pub brawl, Motorists slowly drive down snowy hill in treacherous conditions. In 2015, Roxanne Preston, whose hotshot husband Billy Warneke was killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire in 2013, joinedJuliann Ashcraft, whose husband, Andrew, also was killed,and Andrews mother, Deborah Pfingston, to form a non-profit advocacy group. largeas anything in the movie. "We're coming down to the fire.". "They lived together, they fought fires together, and they died together doing what they loved.". She and Billy used to go to nearby Patagonia often, to hike and fish, taking State Highway 83. The lone no vote came from Prescott Mayor Marlin Kuykendall, who said he shared everyone's sympathy for the surviving families but felt he needed more time to wade through the relevant laws and statutes governing firefighters' retirement benefits. The 29-year-old former "rookie of the year" on the elite "Hotshot" team, was a father of four, all of whom are younger than 6 years old. Worried sick. At 7:25 p.m., Colleen grabbed her phone and texted Travis' wife, Stephanie. Then his cellphone rang. They used to work with your Daddy Billy.. Ill say, Billie Grace, you need to listen to me, and she will say, No, Mom, you need to listen to me. It is hard for Roxanne not to laugh. With the detour, it was more than two hours before they got there. In 2015, she was caught off guard when she got a whiff of the Finger Rock Fire in Tucson from a distance and had a panic attack. It cost about $320. "I have one I want to bring," he told his mom. A contagious smile, a heart of gold. Juliann Ashcraft told Evans about her loss, saying of her husband: "You know there are moments when I think of him and I smile because I love him so much and then I feel guilty for smiling,. She never took her eyes off his casket until it was lowered into the ground. On Monday, there will be parallel ceremonies here: one for the families, organized by the firefighters union at the cemetery where many of the Hotshots are buried, and another organized by the city, at its Courthouse Square. In fact, he was one of 19 wildland firefighters who died in the line of duty that day, with just one member of the crew surviving. He was very upset with the entire City Council because they made it so hard for him to get benefits for that position, Amanda Marsh said. That doesnt change, no matter what happens. Helicopters circled the area in an attempt to douse the flames. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Juliann Ashcraft, 28, whose 29-year-old husband, Andrew, was among the Granite Mountain Hotshots members killed during the June 30 blaze, said she will receive workers' compensation and a. 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Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar and George Santos receive House committee seats, Suspects sought in "massacre" at California home that left 6 dead. 'He was the most amazing man,' she said. passionate marriage with Amanda (Jennifer Connelly), a horse trainer, Another board member, Wade Ward of the Prescott Fire Department, said the question was difficult because "everything that we've gone through and continue to go through is unprecedented. When some of the widows sought the benefits For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. But being the wife of a firefighter is like becoming part of a family. pitch in, and, in order to get his life together, applies for a job with Hotshots. As time wore on, Willis got back on the phone. Ashcraft's plans may soon include a lawsuit against the city. She wants Billie Grace to meet people who did the work her father did. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Photograph by Columbia Pictures via Everett, deemed some of its firefighters to be temporary or seasonal,, Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! "Welcome to Yarnell," he hollered facetiously. ", "I want to be a fire man," he wrote. "I vote yes.". The battles that the "Hey, chief," Marsh said. Jeremy Hunt is mocked over toe-curling 'inflation explainer' video with Aldi and Lidl shoppers face highest inflation hikes: Cost of basic groceries rise by more than 20% at the Is inflation FINALLY on the way down? Now Roxanne was headed to the Sonoita-Elgin Fire District station, near the first fire she had confronted since then. It had been almost four years since her husband, wildland firefighter Billy Warneke, was killed by a raging blaze in Yarnell. Donuts foil is Not long after she saw the news report, Juliann Ashcraft opened her door to find a police officer outside. Because of the dangers of the job, he would always tell us that he loved us.'. Nineteen American flags were brought to the scene, one to be draped over each man's body. But in rugged, hilly terrain like that where the Hotshots were working, any thunder activity or downdrafts can cause winds to shift and flames to shoot in all directions, fire experts say. The fire had stretched out over more than 40,000 acres. These are people who risk their own lives every day," Roxanne said. She has no interest in him or in his help raising the child; He was very upset with the city. are embodied in the storytelling methods of classic Hollywood movies, Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. He had been saying all season that this would be his last as a Hotshot. the orders of certified Type 1 (a.k.a. But while it offered some comfort, the image was also foreboding. In 2015, Roxanne had joinedJuliann Ashcraft, whose husband, Andrew, also was killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire, and Andrews mother, Deborah Pfingston, to formthe Wildland Firefighter Guardian Institute, a non-profit advocacy group. Then in the next breath he added, "I want to be Batman.". during previous hearings where benefits were awarded to three other surviving family members also sued the town for three hundred million Juliann said she sent her husband a photo of their four children, all under 6, swimming. The 4-1 vote came at the same time that an army of Hotshots from around the West was returning to the area to battle a fire near Slide Rock State Park less than 100 miles from where their 19 Granite Mountain colleagues died. More than once, Mr. Kuykendall had argued against extending benefits for Ms. Ashcraft and her children, telling The Associated Press last fall that it was very obvious she was motivated by greed. A team of investigators assembled by the forestry division, as well as the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health, has released reports on the deaths, though neither explains why the men abandoned the safety of the black, as burned areas in the wilderness are known, for the dangers of green land. She noticed that everybody who used to work with her father wore green pants. ', Engulfed: 19 firefighters died as the wildfire spread near the Arizona town of Yarnell, Beneitone said athletic prowess was a must for the Hotshots. become close friends, and Mac matures, largely through Donuts Her husband was in his third season with the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew out of Prescott, Arizona. As it stands, the city had entered only six of the Hotshots 19 fallen members into this system, or those who were considered full-time employees. Only the Brave about Prescotts point of pride that the Granite "Very few people do exactly what they do.". 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