On July 6, 1994, a fire on Storm King Mountain in Colorado killed 14 firefighters. Nearly two decades later, in 2013, a wildfire at Yarnell Hill, Arizona, killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew. Those two disasters bracket the Wildland Firefighter Week of Remembrance, held every year from June 30 to July 6.
The week honors the men and women who died fighting wildfires. After the 1994 and 2013 losses, a movement grew to renew the commitment to firefighter safety and to remember those killed in the line of duty. The wildland fire community began observing the week in 2015.
Wildland firefighters respond to tens of thousands of fires a year. The job goes well past firefighting itself. Crews often work 24-hour shifts, give medical care and teach children about fire safety. Each firefighter has to get through fire school first, which the observance’s organizers describe as essentially a boot camp.
Not all of them come home.
July 2 and how to take part
July 2 is National Wildland Firefighter Day, set aside to honor the personnel who coordinate to protect the nation’s wildlands. The organizers suggest several ways to mark the week: attending a memorial for fallen firefighters, supporting family members and crew who have lost someone, thanking a wildland firefighter, or visiting the Wildland Firefighters Monument in Boise, Idaho. People can join the conversation online with the hashtags #6MFS and #WeekOfRemembrance.
The week also carries a safety message for everyone else. Organizers ask people to put out fire pits and campfires before leaving a campsite, to call 911 to report an unattended fire, and to follow local burning bans. Throwing a lit cigarette from a moving car can start a fire in dry country.
