Background

On June 30, 2013, a major wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, took the lives of 19 Hotshot firefighters. The tragedy marked the greatest loss of firefighters during a wildfire since 1933.

How We Helped

Hillwood Airways, known then as ATX Air Services, provided air transportation for three of the fallen firefighters’ families to attend a memorial service in Phoenix and bring their sons home.

In addition, Hillwood Airways transported the Wild Fighters monument “Spirit of the Wildland Community,” designed by Lawrence Nowlan in honor of past, present and future firefighters and the people who support them. The statue was originally dedicated at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho in 1994 and was transported to Prescott, Arizona where it now stands in remembrance of the firefighters who lost their lives in the Yarnell Hill fire.