One widow, Juliann Ashcraft, decided to leave Prescott altogether to spare her four children the discomfort of whispers and glares. Blue Ridge had helped battle the blaze that killed Billy and the hotshot crew. (It The couple was still playful. The fire has also destroyed an estimated 200 homes. Overnight the blaze grew to 200 acres, and by Sunday morning officials were transitioning to a larger command team to oversee firefighting efforts and calling in more personnel. And she wasglad she brought Billie Grace. nonfiction account in GQ by Sean Flynn (and co-produced by Cond Nast It was a text from Andrew, her husband of seven years and, still, her best friend. "I said to them, 'My husband was a full-time employee, he went to work full-time for you,'" she said, "and their response to me was, 'Perhaps there was a communication issue in your marriage.'". PRESCOTT, Ariz. Smoke drifted from the fire that tore through the chaparral brush on nearby mountains after the flames had claimed the lives of 19 firefighters almost a year ago, immersing this tight community in heartache. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. But she's been denied the lifetime benefits she was counting on to raise her four children, the youngest of whom is 18 months old. She and Billy used to go to nearby Patagonia often, to hike and fish, taking State Highway 83. Officials have called the fire the worst wildland tragedy in 80 years. With family and friends to look after the children, she headed to Prescott's Mile High Middle School to grieve with the other families. "Welcome to Yarnell," he hollered facetiously. stirring, effective, patriotic propaganda for a picture of America that Her palms grew sweaty. They are happy. 'I asked, "Will you be sleeping out there tonight?"' A widow whose husband was killed courageously fighting a wildfire in Yarnell, Arizona five weeks ago is being denied the lifetime benefits she was counting on to raise the couple's four young children alone. CBS News obtained paperwork that shows Ashcraft did earn a full-time salary. Another, Roxanne Warneke, who lives just outside Tucson, has. But being the wife of a firefighter is like becoming part of a family. Not this time. hidden in plain sight in this report is that, for nearly three years, The smell of smoke could still make Roxanne panic. As she kept watch on the Sawmill Fire,Roxanne sent a Facebook message to Deborah. Brave, released last Friday, is among the more noteworthy recent Some of the more vocal widows became the target of stinging criticism; in online forums and letters to the editors, people called them greedy, disgusting or worse. Jan. Mr Ashcraft also sent his wife a picture of their view of the smoke and flames from his team's lunch spot on Sunday, and Juliann said that she was not particularly concerned when she saw it. and how narrow narrative designs are methods for keeping uncomfortable You have to live it. Roxanne said. from the community, conceal and reflect other sorts of nostalgiaa He sent back a picture of the fire, which he described as wild, that would ultimately claim his life. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. She calls Harry Daddy Hop, a nickname from his initials. A crew of 600 firefighters and related personnel had been assigned to it. In memory of 19 fire fighters, it said. In the months that followed, tributes on storefronts, on bumper stickers and along the mesh-iron fence surrounding Station 7, the firefighters home base stood as glaring reminders of a tragedy no one here has forgotten. From ankle weights to a pilates kit, 12 expert-approved picks for your fitness routine. She took in a breath and slowly let it out. "too bad lunch was an MRE," the text concluded. / CBS News. She responded by asking whether he and his crew would be sleeping in the field that night. Ashcraft launched an online petition at Change.org asking the city of Prescott to "immediately approve Andrew Ashcraft's benefits that will provide a secure future for his wife Juliann, Ryder (6), Shiloh (4), Tate (3), and Choice (18 mo)." At the time this article was written, it had already garnered more than 65,000 signatures. You could pretty much see, from young freshman all the way, he was going to be physically active. Outside of the love he shared for his family members, hotshot firefighting was his life, his wife said. offers a vision of sentimental unity for the common good in a town where "I think I will be down there for a while on this one," 29-year-old Ashcraft had told his wife via text. Juliann told "Today" that Andrew replied . discipline and the book studies and becomes an integral part of the That's why he did what he did, because he want to protect the community where he lived. A thunderstorm was brewing, and the winds had shifted nearly 180 degrees sending flames racing into Yarnell, where Lawton's small, block home sat at the base of a hill. They talked about a freak storm, and said the men appeared to have done everything by the book. ", "I want to be a fire man," he wrote. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Billie Grace was 10 months old when they moved in, just the two of them, with the sorrow of their loss. 'Quite literally, my bills are being paid by the good people of the world who are giving donations, because the city of Prescott isn't doing anything for us,' she told the TV station. Enter your email to receive updates on our LDS Living content, 2022 LDS Living A Division of Deseret Book Company. The art of storytelling is treacherous, and the new film Only the Donuts foil is But while it offered some comfort, the image was also foreboding. First published on August 5, 2013 / 7:54 PM. "News?? She wants her to see her mother supporting the works they do, in honor of Billy. "This is my lunch spot," he wrote beneath a photo of hard-hatted firefighters sitting on boulders, watching smoke rise on the horizon. Within six years of its beginning as a fuels mitigation unit in 2002, the Granite Mountain group had joined the elite Hotshot community the first such crew attached to a municipal department. In the end, the house Billy had dreamed of, the one he promised Roxanne, was built by firefighters, friends and neighbors, and complete strangers who donated money, time, labor and supplies. Photograph by Columbia Pictures via Everett, deemed some of its firefighters to be temporary or seasonal,, Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard. So Roxanne still follows the progress of fires online, like she used to when Billy was on the job. Strangely, he did not draw the typical red hook-and-ladder truck, but rather a pale green vehicle that closely resembles the type the Granite Mountain crew used. These men worked together," she said. At the Sonoita-Elgin Fire District station, Roxanne got out of the truck and introduced herself to the firefighters. It was 20 percent contained and awind had kicked up. At the time, a weather station 6 miles away showed winds coming from the southwest at 10 mph. I was able to beat back the anxiety, she said. Nineteen men, members of an elite "Hotshot" team, died Sunday battling the out-of-control wildfire Sunday outside Yarnell, Ariz. On Wednesday, 12 of the 19 families sued the state, its forestry division and the incident commanders in charge when and before the deaths occurred, pushing to find out how a seemingly routine assignment could have gone so wrong for an elite group of wilderness firefighters, the Granite Mountain Hotshots. They fought fires together. "They never think it will happen to them.. If you hear anything please let me know. It claimed property as well as lives, destroying more than 100 homes. When it came time to vote on the benefits extension, his was the only dissenting vote. Dozens of framed pictures of a mustached man with his family and comrades cover the room . The elite team, Ashcraft said, were like a family. attempting to get that honor on the cheap. All Willis could think was, "Not those guys." Juliann met with families of two Beartown firefighters from Michigan who were killed and another half dozen who were injured in an accident on their way to the Box Canyon wildfire in Utah last summer. 'The best person I know. Ad Choices, The Familial Furies of Noah Baumbachs The Meyerowitz Stories, Harvey Weinstein and the Illusion of the Vulgar But Passionate Old-Hollywood Studio Boss, The Wildfires Ravaging Northern California. But in rugged, hilly terrain like that where the Hotshots were working, any thunder activity or downdrafts can cause winds to shift and flames to shoot in all directions, fire experts say. (Forrest Fyre), and Eric is authorized to seek Type 1 certification for Carter Evans speaks with . 'As shocked as I was that my husband went to work and never came home, I'm equally shocked in how the city has treated our family since then,' Mrs Ashcraft, whose youngest child is just 18 months old, told CBS News. Her husband was in his third season with the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew out of Prescott, Arizona. Andrew Ashcraft, 29, seen here with his wife, Juliann Ashcraft, was one of 19 elite "hotshot" firefighters killed in an Arizona wildfire this week. Prescott High School physical education teacher and coach Lou Beneitone taught many of the Hotshots, and remembered Ashcraft as a fitness-oriented student. Andrew Ashcraft was only in his third season with the Hotshots, but he'd been working toward the job for years. It turns out that, just a few weeks after the tragedy, one widow, As a teenager, he attended fire camps. Market data provided by Factset. Brendan is first seen as a young The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. That doesnt change, no matter what happens. "Haven't heard from him all day. . Helicopters had been unable to reach the highly-trained men as they fought the flames in Yarnell and they could not be saved by their emergency shelters - tent-like structures meant to shield them from flames and heat. "They all laid out there that night.". Gov. Roxanne picked up Billie Grace and showed it to her. There was silence for a moment. surviving family members also sued the town for three hundred million Roxanne still tells Billie Grace stories about her father, and Billie Grace tells them to Harry. He responded that he wished for that too. suspect, was the furthest thing from the filmmakers intentions. Nothing of the sort is even hinted at in Only the Brave. The movie has He listened intently as she recounted her dream. The movie is a While her. July 2, 2013 12 AM PT. Roxanne tried to prepare herself for the smell. He had his priorities in line, but when he was there, he would tell me, They say jump and Id say, how high. Their main goal was to save lives. Most of the fire activity had been restricted to the north end of the blaze. The shocking treatment comes five weeks afterthe mother-of-four learned by watching the news that her firefighter husband had perished in the intense blaze that burned scores of homes to the ground. The crew killed in the blaze had been working on other wildfires in recent weeks in New Mexico and Arizona, Fraijo said. Hotshots. Counting calories IS king when it comes to losing weight - NOT fasting, study finds. the house Billy had dreamed of, the one he promised Roxanne, was built by firefighters, friends and neighbors, and complete strangers, They focus on safety for wildland firefighters, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. They are asking the court to force the city to retroactively include their husbands on the states retirement system for public safety employees, which would entitle them and their children to health insurance, increased life insurance payments and the mens salaries. With his widow weeping in the audience, city officials voted Thursday to award full survivor and retirement benefits to the family of one of the part-time Arizona Hotshot firefighters who died fighting the devastating Yarnell Hill Fire almost a year ago. It was the deadliest wildfire ever in Arizona;19 men on the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew out of Prescott were killed. Firefighter Joe Thurston. The criteria were the same as those applied They died together. 'It had to be a perfect storm in order for this to happen,' Prescott Fire Department spokesman Wade Ward told the Today show last month. Brave is spare, clear, direct storytellingand the tightly bounded Lawton even joked with some new residents watching the flames from their front yards. wildland firefighters lost on June 30, 2013, the piece reads. Though next-door to national forestland that regularly sees fire activity, this particular area had not burned in some 40 years and was deep into a drought making it far more susceptible to fire. unit. "It was brown, then it was black, it then turned red and the flames topped the hill," Lawton would later recall. As they unloaded the truck, Roxanne could smell the fire. Colleen had last seen Travis just days before, when he returned from working another blaze. But the city is refusing to pay Mrs Ashcraft her husband's lifetime salary and health benefits, which together are worth millions, because it insists he was among 13 of the squad who were seasonal employees rather than full-timers. "As shocked as I was that my husband went to work and never came home, I'm equally shocked in how the city has treated our family since then," she said. In part, for that very reason, each crew always has at least one member serving as a lookout, stationed where he can watch the fire's behavior and radio changes in conditions to the team. The fire that swept over the Granite Mountain Hotshots left Juliann Ashcraft a widow. Her husband, Andrew, 29, was a former "rookie of the year" on the team and the father of four children, all younger than the age of 6. Confused: Juliann Ashcraft, pictured, is fighting with the city of Prescott for the benefits she is being denied, Children: Mrs Ashcraft, pictured, was left to raise her four children alone. casually, just a few minutes click-around) at news about the Hotshots He can be reached at [email protected]. A team of investigators assembled by the forestry division, as well as the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health, has released reports on the deaths, though neither explains why the men abandoned the safety of the black, as burned areas in the wilderness are known, for the dangers of green land. ", "How did you hear that?" She was eating pizza with friends when the boy rushed up to her and asked if she could sew a button back on his shirt. Stephanie replied. Helicopters circled the area in an attempt to douse the flames. Is it time Harry & Meghan accept Clarkson's apology and move on? emphasis on Eric and Brendans personal lives. LDS widow talks about Ariz. firefighter husband on the 'Today' show, CBS news - Deseret News They pay to replace or update equipment. 2023 www.azcentral.com. She doesn't want the smell of smoke to ever make her feel the way her mother did for so long. 'I want to be able to just be mourning my husband, be supporting my children, be figuring out what our new normal is.'. While her husband was on a break during the early stages. or redistributed. Willis and three other men sat vigil with the firefighters all night, until their bodies were removed the next morning and transported to a medical examiner's office. 'But he let us know that he loved us and missed us. "I vote yes.". mothers house. So on a Wednesday,she and Harry went to Costcoto buy fresh fruit. Her husband Andrew was 29 years old. Marsh and Willis had worked together for years, and were close friends as well as colleagues. largeas anything in the movie. Juliann Ashcraft's husband, Andrew, was hired as a member of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew as a temporary worker in 2011 and was named rookie of the year. in a plethora of details, but it never looks beyond the work life into Southwest incident team leader Clay Templin said the team and its commanders were following safety protocols, but it appears the fire's erratic nature simply overwhelmed them. Experts say streaming giant will drop star when his Rishi Sunak demands Labour's Keir Starmer backs anti-strike laws ahead of looming de-facto general strike in More misery for NHS patients as thousands of nurses stage two-day strike across England: Health chiefs warn Is it time for the Government to give the nurses a better pay deal? Yet here she was. 'Now I have four kids and myself, and I don't know what I'm going to do. yearning for a less complex and more homogeneous society that, I Mac (Taylor Kitsch), a sexually crude and emotionally stunted colleague Then Willis ended the conversation the way he does anytime he's speaking to a firefighter. "I love what I do, and we're going to be OK.". ', Of his team, she added: 'They loved what they did. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. It was upgraded from a Type 2 fire to Type 1, the most complex. out can be far more revealing than what they choose to include. Andrew Ashcraft, 29, of Prescott, Ariz., was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and one of 19 firefighters who died battling a fire that swept through Yarnell, Ariz . Still, during the summer wildfire season, it was not unusual for the couple to go weeks on end without any communication. Jeremy Hunt is mocked over toe-curling 'inflation explainer' video with Aldi and Lidl shoppers face highest inflation hikes: Cost of basic groceries rise by more than 20% at the Is inflation FINALLY on the way down? When they were found on Sunday, all 19 shelters were deployed but some of the men's bodies were inside their individual shelters, while others were outside - indicating just how suddenly they were overcome by the flames. You gotta be very physically fit, and you gotta like it, gotta like the hard work.'. budgets, involving the online harassment of women, arewithout a word Whats more, several of the movies main characters were involved in the dispute: Hotshot leader Eric Marshs widow, Amanda,remembers her husband talking about how Prescott officials held back on Andrew Ashcraft when he became full-time. Anyone can read what you share. "The city has fully complied with all of the laws and employment policies that direct survivor benefits," the statement said. These men burned alive trying to save a community. for anyone who has read anything about the real-life Granite Mountain and turned up an entire realm of activity thats integral to their lives Market data provided by Factset. Hes the one who noticed a banner hanging high up on the brick wall inside the fire station and pointed it out to Roxanne. She told them she had brought fruit. They said it responded to the fire unthinkingly and incompetently, failing to stop it when it was still small, and then scrambling to catch it just as a storm tore through the area on June 30, 2013, fanning the flames that eventually trapped the Hotshots. It turns out, however, their families may not receive the same compensation. By 9:30 a.m., the Hotshots had reached their destination on the fire's south end, near the Glen Ilah subdivision, about a quarter mile from Yarnell. Allen G. Breed is a national writer, based in Raleigh, N.C. Soon, Lawton's casual mood turned dark when a neighbor reported that town evacuations were underway. Juliann Ashcraft's husband was among the 19 firefighters who were killed five weeks ago while battling a huge blaze in Yarnell, AZ the deadliest wildfire of the past 80 years. and exemplary a vision of contemporary American life as the tale of the The fire had crept close to an area Roxanne knew well. That afternoon Juliann texted to report that it was raining at their house in nearby Prescott. It was about 7 p.m. when a television announcer came on with the report: A Hotshot crew had been overrun near Yarnell. The blaze had ignited two days earlier with a lightning strike along the Date Creek Mountains above Yarnell. Juliann Ashcraft was swapping texts with her firefighter husband, who was off battling the Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona. telling residents and municipal workers that taxes might need to go up Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Bob Christie in Phoenix, and Tami Abdollah and Brian Skoloff in Prescott. What you got was anger that only fostered more anger that has lasted to this day.. Andrew Ashcraft's widow wept in the audience as the Prescott, Ariz., retirement board decided her family deserved full-time survivor payments. Back in Prescott, Juliann Ashcraft was watching television with her children Ryder, 6; Shiloh, 4; Tate Andrew, 2; and Choice, 1. 'I said to them, "My husband was a full-time employee, he went to work full-time for you,"' she said, 'and their response to me was, "Perhaps there was a communication issue in your marriage."'. "They lived together, they fought fires together, and they died together doing what they loved.". the firefighters. While her husband was on a break during the early stages of battling a massive fire on Sunday, Ashcraft said she texted pictures of their kids swimming. "I want to be able to just be mourning my husband, be supporting my children, be figuring out what our new normal is," she said. Ashcraft, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was honored to be a member of the Hotshot crew, and 'he just had a really sweet spirit about him,' Elise Smith, a Prescott, Arizona, resident, told The Deseret News of Salt Lake City. 2023 Cond Nast. As it stands, the city had entered only six of the Hotshots 19 fallen members into this system, or those who were considered full-time employees. Is humanity doomed? The firefighters are, the lawsuit says, the brightest spot in this story of incompetent mismanagement.. Ashcraft's widow, Juliann Ashcraft, who has been the most prominent family member fighting to win full benefits for the families of the seasonal Hotshots, didn't testify at the hearing, but. unified in its grief and mourninginto open conflict. Hotshots widows have faced over health insurance, taxes, labor law, and Harry wants to raise Billie Grace the way her father would have. Still, at first, officials determined this blaze to be small, posing no immediate threat to Yarnell's 700 residents. Security fears after YouTuber managed to tape phone to 'Petrified' student, 20, inspects her room every night after she was rushed to hospital when a spider bite Six people die, including three children, when their throats are sliced by KITE STRINGS at Indian festival. Please enter valid email address to continue. The father of four always seized every opportunity to call or text Juliann while out on a job even if it meant hiking to the top of a mountain to get a signal. yet is excluded from the movie, and that is at least as interesting She said Wednesday that she would fight for. surges to the surface of the action only very late in the film, when the They made their way there on back roads. Hotshot) units and merely Roxanne had married Billy in 2008, but they had known each other since high school. stirring dramatization, directed by Joseph Kosinski, based on a The tail credits state the names of the other She felt like she wanted to do something to help. "We could really use some rain over here," he replied. . To expand the content of Only the Brave would entail expanding its These men lived together. It was approaching 5 p.m., and the winds were now coming from the north at 26 mph, with gusts to 43 mph. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Willis, the Prescott wildland fire chief, was in his pickup outside Yarnell, listening to the Hotshots' tactical frequency, when he heard a garbled message from Marsh that he couldn't quite make out. Now Roxanne was headed to the Sonoita-Elgin Fire District station, near the first fire she had confronted since then. Once known as "Rich Hill" for the acres of gold nuggets discovered by prospectors in the 1860s, the town lies 80 miles northwest of Phoenix at 4,800 feet above sea level, leading to the motto, "Where a Desert Breeze Meets the Mountain Air.". Ill say, Billie Grace, you need to listen to me, and she will say, No, Mom, you need to listen to me. It is hard for Roxanne not to laugh. are embodied in the storytelling methods of classic Hollywood movies, wildfire-fighting outfit in Prescott, Arizona, thats relegated to Type She wants Billie Grace to meet people who did the work her father did. The City of Prescott now claims he was a seasonal worker, despite him . fool, getting into fights, getting arrested, getting kicked out of his "I will fire fight the fires.". Juliann Ashcraft's husband, Andrew, was one of 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighters who lost their lives when a fire they were battling suddenly changed direction and engulfed them. "It's a whole different animal with them," said Christian, whose crew had been dispatched last Sunday to help fight the fire. "And I knew I had to get out.". The Hotshots, he said, were his heroes.
