Gov. Doug Ducey orders flags to half-staff Sunday in honor of Yarnell 19
Jun 30, 2019, 4:30 AM | Updated: 9:47 am
(Public Domain Photo)
PHOENIX — Expect flags across the state to be lowered to half-staff on Sunday in honor of the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots, who lost their lives in the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire.
The honor to the firefighters comes while the fifth-largest fire in Arizona history — the Woodbury Fire — has burned more than 123,000 acres east of the Valley.
Gov. Doug Ducey announced the half-staff order on Friday for the Yarnell 19.
Sunday marks the six-year anniversary of the Yarnell Hill Fire. Other tribute events are scheduled for Sunday.
The Granite Mountain Gourd Society will hold gourd dances from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Frontier Village Shopping Center in Prescott.
At exactly 4:42 p.m. on the anniversary Sunday, the bell at the Yavapai County Courthouse will ring 19 times.
Six years later, remembering the #Yarnell19: pic.twitter.com/tS0v9ZLxXY
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) June 30, 2019
The Yarnell Fire sparked on June 28, 2013 and the firefighters died fighting the fire two days later.
It was the deadliest wildland fire in the country since 1933.