Local Crews Show Support for Fallen Firefighters
San Diego County volunteer firefighters and CAL FIRE firefighters all placed a black band across their fire badges Tuesday to mourn the devastating loss of 19 wildland firefighters in Arizona over the weekend. Flags at all stations have also been lowered to half-staff.
The 19 killed were part of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew, an elite wildland unit sponsored by the Prescott Fire Department in Arizona. All but one of the crew was overrun by a massive wildfire near Yarnell, Ariz.
“On behalf of the San Diego CAL FIRE Unit and San Diego County Fire Authority, our thoughts are with the Arizona fire service and the families of the fallen firefighters as they struggle to cope with the magnitude of such tragic sacrifice. The fire service is bound by our commitment to those we protect and, in that spirit, we are memorializing the fallen firefighters by shrouding our badges and flying flags at half-staff,” said Thom Porter, San Diego County Fire Authority Fire Chief and CAL FIRE Unit Chief.