Memorial honoring Arizona 19 fallen firefighters (9-Jul-2013 11a-1p PDT)

Today, July 9, 2013, there will be a celebration of life memorial in Prescott Valley from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Pacific to honor Arizona’s 19 elite firefighters killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire.

AZCentral.com reports all available tickets for the service at the 5,000-seat Tim’s Toyota Center are gone with bulk of the tickets being issued to family of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew and support “fire family” personnel.

Live streaming coverage of the 2 hour service can be viewed on AZCentral / NBC.

The program for the Memorial is available here (8-pg PDF).

If you’d like to learn how to help the families of the fallen heroes, please visit http://yarnellfallenfirefighters.com/

Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the fallen heroes families, our state of Arizona and the entire firefighter/EMS nation.

Arizona wildfire kills 19 of our elite firefighters + The Hotshot’s Prayer

Arizona suffered a devastating loss yesterday. Nineteen firefighters from the elite Granite Mountain Hotshots of Prescott, died Sunday fighting an out-of-control wildfire in Yarnell, a tiny Yavapai County town roughly 80 miles northwest of Phoenix.

About half of the town’s 500 homes were feared destroyed by the blaze, which began early Friday evening and had spread to 8,374 acres by early Monday. All of Yarnell and the neighboring Peeples Valley were evacuated. Fire crews reported no containment as of Monday morning (1-Jul-2013).

The National Fire Protection Association website lists the last wildland fire to kill more firefighters as the 1933 Griffith Park fire of Los Angeles, which killed 29. The most firefighters — 340 — were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York.

The Granite Mountain Hotshots, established in 2002, were an elite ground firefighting crew known for their innovative problem-solving and history of safe, aggressive fire suppression.

Members of the crew were highly trained, came from diverse backgrounds, and worked long hours in extreme environmental conditions doing the most demanding of fireline tasks.

According to The Daily Courier…

• They carried 50-70 pounds on their back, hiked seven miles or more to where they needed to work, and worked up to 14 hours, sometimes longer.

• The average age of the men in the hotshot crew was 27-years-old.

• “They have to be ready to leave for an assignment on two hours’ notice, which sometimes means missing family events,”Wade Ward of the Prescott FD said last week. “They have to be prepared to be on that assignment for 21 days, get two days rest at home, and possibly be sent out on another 21-day assignment.”

Prior to the Yarnell Hill fire which took nearly all of their lives, the team had just returned from a wildfire in New Mexico.

Just one week ago, the same crew also led the charge against the massive Doce fire in the Prescott National Forest.

We’d like to take a moment to extend our condolences to the elite fallen firefighters, their families, the cities of Yarnell and Prescott and the entire firefighter nation. Words can never adequately express the gratitude we have for all first responders who sacrifice so much to help keep us safe. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those impacted by this and other wildfires ravaging the nation. Bill & Janet Liebsch, Fedhealth, Tucson AZ

West, Texas Firefighter and EMS Fallen Hero Fund

We wanted to share this news item from the NFFF website … and continuing to send our thoughts and prayers to all those lost and affected in last week’s plant explosion.

In light of the tragic event in West, Texas on Wednesday and in cooperation with local support efforts, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation has established a national fund to accept monetary donations to assist the survivors and coworkers of the fire and EMS personnel who died in the line of duty.

Checks can be mailed to:

NFFF c/o West, Texas Fire and EMS Fallen Hero Fund
P.O. Drawer 498
Emmitsburg, MD 21727.

Donations also can be made by credit card at www.regonline.com/westtx. All donated funds will be used to assist the survivors and coworkers to rebuild their lives and support the programs and services they will need.

As a result of the blast, the station along with the apparatus, equipment and turn-out gear were destroyed or badly damaged. If you would like to donate these items, please send a message with your contact information to www.firehero.org/contact and the Foundation will share this with the West, Texas department.

“This fire and explosion have devastated the entire town in which so many people know and care about each other,” said Chief Ron Siarnicki, executive director of the NFFF. “We want to ensure the survivors and coworkers of those who died in the line of duty know that the entire fire service family is holding them in our hearts and doing all we can to offer support.”

As part of the Foundation’s mission to assist the survivors of the fallen, the Texas LAST (Local Assistance State Team) was activated on Wednesday night to provide support to local officials and public safety personnel in West.

The United States Congress created the NFFF to lead a nationwide effort to remember America’s fallen firefighters. Since 1992, the non-profit foundation has developed and expanded programs to honor fallen fire heroes and assist their families and coworkers. The NFFF also works closely with the U.S. Fire Administration to help prevent and reduce line-of- duty deaths and injuries. For more information on the Foundation and its programs contact us at 301-447-1365 or visit www.firehero.org.