Public invited to 12th annual remembrance event for fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots

PHOENIX – The public is invited to the annual remembrance event for the Granite Mountain Hotshots who died while battling Arizona’s Yarnell Hill Fire 12 years ago.

The Yarnell Area Resource Group and Arizona State Parks and Trails are putting on the event at 4 p.m. Monday. It will take place at the Yarnell Hill Fire Memorial on State Route 89 in Yarnell, about 33 miles southwest of Prescott.

Nineteen firefighters with the elite Granite Mountain Hotshots crew lost their lives on June 30, 2013, when flames from the fast-moving Yarnell Fire trapped them in a canyon.

Brendan McDonough was the only member of the crew to survive that day. He was posted away from the other members as a lookout when the flames overtook them.

Governor orders Arizona flags lowered for Granite Mountain Hotshots

As a tribute to the fallen heroes, Gov. Katie Hobbs ordered flags lowered at state buildings from sunrise until sunset Monday and encouraged individuals, businesses and other organizations to follow suit.

“We honor the memory and legacy of the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who sacrificed their lives to keep Arizonans safe,” Hobbs said in a press release. “Their bravery and service to our state will always be remembered, and we are holding their families, friends and the entire Prescott community in our thoughts.”

The Yarnell Hill Fire was the deadliest wildland fire since the 1933 Griffith Park Fire in Los Angeles that killed 29 firefighters, and the largest loss of life for firefighters since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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