Mediaboss Marketing

By ALLEN G. BREED and HANNAH DREIER/Associated Press/July 1, 2013

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) In the firefighting world, Hotshot is the word given to those willing to risk their lives to go to the hottest part of a blaze. They are the best of the best, crews filled with adventure-seekers whose years of hard training ready them for the worst.

But in the full face of natures fury, all the training in the world isnt always enough.

So it was Sunday for 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. These Hotshots were everything the word connotes: Daring and brave, a tightknit group brought together by a common bond of hard work and arduous adventure, reads the Prescott teams web page.

We are routinely exposed to extreme environmental conditions, long work hours, long travel hours and the most demanding of fireline tasks, says the site. Comforts such as beds, showers and hot meals are not always common.

Above all, the crews members prided themselves on their problem-solving, teamwork and ability to make decisions in a stressful environment.

The men died Sunday evening when a wind-whipped wildfire overcame them on a mountainside north of Phoenix. It was the deadliest single day for U.S. firefighters since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

They were dedicated, hard-working people, Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said. I never heard them complain; they never complained to me at least. ... They always seemed to be playing pranks on each other and a few on me.

And I had a great deal of respect for them.

At least two members of the crew had followed in their fathers firefighting footsteps.

Read the original here:
Arizona 'Hotshots' lived the meaning of the word