Fire near Prescott, Arizona claims the lives of 19 Hot Shots

It’s a sad day in the world of firefighting. Yesterday 19 Hot Shots from the Interagency Granite Mountain Hot Shot Crew died while fighting a fire near Prescott, Arizona.

This touches home for me. Although I never worked for the Forest Service in Prescott, I often considered applying for a position on the Prescott Hot Shots, which formed in 1972, the same year I moved to Prescott from Syracuse, New York.

Dying on the fire line never occurred to me while in that career. At such a young age, I probably thought it would never happen to me. Although I did have some close calls, fortunately that’s all they were.

This is a dangerous job. The men and women who fight fires deserve our respect and gratitude for putting their lives on the line.