Grants Fire and Rescue remembers the Granite Mountain Hotshots

GRANTS N.M. – Wednesday, June 30, 2021 was the eight-year anniversary of the incident that took 19 Arizona firefighters’ lives. The Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew was a group of 20 firefighting individuals, originating out of Prescott, Arizona. The crew worked towards hotshot certification for years before finally receiving certification as an Interagency Hotshot Crew in 2008. Yet, one fateful day, on June 30, 2013, 19 of the 20 hotshots were killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire – taking more firefighters lives than any incident since September 11, 2001.

On Wednesday, June 30, Grants Fire and Rescue remembered and honored the Granite Mountain Hotshots via social media, posting pictures that said, “In Memory Of” and “Never Forgotten.” Grants Fire and Rescue Lieutenant Mike Maes posted a history of the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew in the comments, including their hard-fought battle for hotshot certification and the description of the deadly fire that overcame 19 of them. The incident was very tragic and highly publicized. A film was even created based on their story, titled Only the Brave.

Lt. Maes went on to say that himself and his then-17-year-old son, Brin Maes, who is also apart of Grants Fire and Rescue as an Engineer/EMT B, actually attended the memorial service for the Granite Mountain Hotshots.

“It was an extremely humbling experience,” commented Lt. Maes. “We were surrounded by multiple structure fire departments – New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, and numerous others. One side of the venue was filled with Wildland Firefighters from across the Region and Nation. There was not space in the venue to hold the Firefighters and civilians that wanted to pay their respects. The parking lot had giant screens so others could watch the services.”

Maes continued, “Inside was eerily quiet as things were being set up. Then the bag pipes broke the silence – a sound so beautiful but had so much sorrow echoed in the building and I (we) will never forget. The chills through our bodies seemed never ending. Thousands of Firefighters standing, tears in their eyes as different departments worked together playing as one. The service was amazing. Time stood still as we learned of their past and who these Brave Firefighters were… The drive home was kind of quiet. We had just witnessed something that I never hope to experience in my lifetime again, but I am so grateful to have been a part of it. So many thoughts, questions and what ifs going through our minds. Our thoughts and prayers go out today, just like every day, to all the Firefighters, Wildland and Structure. They may fight fire differently, but they all have the same goal – Life, Safety, and Property Protection.”

The Cibola County region has a hotshot crew of their own, called the Mount Taylor Hotshot Crew. The Mt. Taylor Hotshots had to work hard to receive their hotshot certification as well, finally receiving the certification in the year of 2003, after a few years of fire seasons that put their expertise to the test. Now, the Mt. Taylor Hotshot Crew is the only Interagency Hotshot Crew within the Cibola National Forest. The crew consists of the typical 20 hotshots, and they are considered a Type I crew, available as a local and national resource.

According to https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/cibola/abo ut-forest/districts/?cid=stelprdb5276174, “The primary mission of hotshot crews is to provide safe, mobile and highly trained crews for fire suppression and primary reinforcement during natural disaster incident operations. Type I crews are expected to be highly trained, physically fit, professional, efficient and equipped to handle a wide variety of tactical assignments. Being a hotshot takes considerable willpower, skill, tact, desire, teamwork and the will to keep going when others won't. This includes maintaining a “can do, will do attitude”, while maintaining the highest safety standards possible.”

The Mt. Taylor Hotshot Crew has been sent to assist with many fires around New Mexico and surrounding regions. Hotshot work is a bit different from regular firefighting and, as shown with the Granite Mountain Hotshot incident of 2013, it is also very dangerous. With the fire season being in full swing, entities like Grants Fire and Rescue, along with local communities, continue to remember their courage, hard work, and those that the firefighting world has lost.