A Fitting Memorial Service for the 19 Prescott, AZ Hotshots (Includes Entire Video of the Service)

On June 30th, 19 Prescott, AZ Professional Firefighters died while operating as a part of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. They died while fighting a fire in Yarnell Hill, AZ. On July 9th, a very fitting memorial service was held to honor the lives of our fallen brothers.

A friend of mine was there. Paul Dykema was at the memorial and updated his Facebook profile all day long with pictures and video from the events in and around the memorial. His pictures got me thinking about utilizing his content in a fitting tribute to our Brothers.

On the very opposite side of the United States, Bill Carey was covering the events in his role with PennWell & Firefighter Nation (the coverage is here).

I did my part in offering the live streaming video of the events while they occurred. Actually, I was way early, completely neglecting the fact that Arizona is not in the same time zone as mine.

Paul Dykema writes:

I traveled to Prescott with John Willgohs from Bernalillo County FD (NM) as he played the bagpipes, and my son Emerson as I wanted him to experience this.

Fire departments from all over were represented, from California, New York, Florida, and Canada (that i saw).

Over 4000 seats in the arena were packed full with people standing where they could, and 2 megatron TVs in the fields outside provided more.

A USMC fly-over was performed by Yuma Marine Corps Air Station.

900 miles were traveled, and I felt privilaged to be able to attend.

The compiled coverage is below. The times and comments are that of Paul Dykema unless otherwise noted. Thanks Paul!

NFFF Memorial Service Information here

Firefighter Nation Photo Gallery Here

View the Program For the Memorial Service (.pdf)

Previous coverage on FireCritic.com herehere, and here

Click here for the entire post if it does not appear below


Jul 7, 2013 11:42pm. Shared by Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial

Jul 8, 2013 11:20pm Amazing Grace…God Bless Prescott FD.

Paul: The people of Prescott are amazing. yesterday when the decision was made to attend the memorial for the HotShots, the nearest hotel was in Cottonwood, the hotel said that was a 20min drive… in reality is more than 80min. While at the courthouse, a woman came to us offering up her house that she is watching for a friend….free.
we have a roof over our heads, bed bug free beds… and 4 blocks from where we have to be early tomorrow morning.
Amazing.

Jul 9, 2013 12:55am

Paul: Absolute honored to be here and honor the 19 fallen with thousands of their fire family. The fire family NEVER ceases to amaze me!

Paul: Not an empty seat inside, plus huge mega tron tvs outside…Amazing.

Jul 9, 2013 5:35pm: Nothing like it in the world.

The photos below are from Paul.

Below you will find the video of the Memorial Service. It is 10 parts.