Nineteen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, based in Prescott, Ariz., were killed Sunday when a windblown wildfire overcame them north of Phoenix. It was the deadliest single day for U.S. firefighters since Sept. 11. Fourteen of the victims were in their 20s.
Andrew Ashcraft, 29
Prescott High School physical education teacher and coach Lou Beneitone taught many of the hotshots, and remembered Ashcraft as a fitness-oriented student.
“He had some athletic ability in him and he was a go-getter, too.”
Ashcraft left behind a wife, Juliann, and four children, The Deseret News of Salt Lake City reported.
Travis Carter, 31
At Captain Crossfit, a gym near the firehouse where the hotshots were stationed, Carter was known as the strongest one out of the crew — but also the most humble.
“No one could beat him,” trainer Janine Pereira said. “But the thing about him was, he would never brag about it.”
Robert Caldwell, 23
Friends said Caldwell was the smart man in the bunch.
“He was really smart, he had a good sense of humor,” said Chase Madrid, who worked as a hotshot for two years but sat out this year.
Dustin DeFord, 24
DeFord tried out for the hotshot crew in January 2012, telling friends on Twitter that he had passed the physical fitness test and asking for prayers as he moved on to the interview stage of the process.
He moved to Arizona from Montana after he was hired.
“He listened very well. He was very respectful,” said Tony Burris, a trainer at Captain Crossfit. “He kind of had a dry sense of humor.”
Chris MacKenzie, 30
An avid snowboarder, MacKenzie grew up in California’s San Jacinto Valley, where he was a 2001 graduate of Hemet High School and a former member of the town’s fire department. He joined the U.S. Forest Service in 2004, then transferred two years ago to the Prescott Fire Department, longtime friend Dav Fulford-Brown told The Riverside Press-Enterprise.
His father, Michael Mac-Kenzie, is a former Moreno Valley Fire Department captain.
Eric Marsh, 43
Marsh was an avid mountain biker who grew up in Ashe County, N.C., but became hooked on firefighting while studying biology at Arizona State University, said Leanna Racquer, the ex-wife of his cousin.
He was superintendent of the hotshot crew and the oldest of the 19 who died. “He was great — he was the best at what he did,” Racquer said.
He was married but had no children.
Sean Misner, 26
Misner leaves behind a wife who is seven months pregnant, said Mark Swanitz, principal of Santa Ynez Valley Union High School in Santa Barbara County, Calif., where Misner graduated in 2005.
Misner played varsity football. “He was a team player, a real helper,” Swanitz said.
Scott Norris, 28
Norris was known around Prescott through his part-time job at Bucky O’Neill Guns.
“Here in Arizona, the gun shops are a lot like barbershops. Sometimes you don’t go in there to buy anything at all, you just go to talk,” said resident William O’Hara. “He was just a model of a young, ideal American gentleman.”
Wade Parker, 22
Parker had just joined the hotshots team. His father works for the nearby Chino Valley Fire Department, said retired Prescott Fire Department Capt. Jeff Knotek, who had known Wade since he was “just a little guy.”
“It’s just a shame to see this happen,” Knotek said.
John Percin Jr., 24
He loved baseball and had an unforgettable laugh. In his aunt’s eyes, Percin was, simply, “an amazing young man.”
“He was probably the strongest and bravest young man I have ever met in my life,” Donna Percin Pederson said.
Percin graduated in 2007 from West Linn High School, southeast of Portland.
Anthony Rose, 23
Rose grew up in Wisconsin and previously worked as a firefighter in nearby Crown King before moving on to become a hotshot.
Retired Crown King firefighter Greg Flores said Rose “just blossomed in the fire department. He did so well and helped so much in Crown King. We were all so very proud of him.”
Jesse Steed, 36
Steed spent the last two years as the captain of the hotshots.
Renton, Wash., police officer Cassidy Steed said his brother served in the Marine Corps before becoming a firefighter. He “always put his life on the line for people who he knew he would never meet.”
Travis Turbyfill, 27
Known as “Turby” among crew members, Turbyfill got a fulltime position with the hotshots when another member’s girlfriend asked him to quit.
Tony Burris, a trainer at Captain Crossfit, said he enjoyed watching Turby with his two daughters.
“Because he’s this big, huge Marine, hotshot guy, and he has two little girls, reddish, blonde curly hair, and they just loved their dad,” he said.
Billy Warneke, 25
Warneke and his wife, Roxanne, were expecting their first child in December, his grandmother, Nancy Warneke, told The Press-Enterprise newspaper in Riverside, Calif.
Warneke grew up in Hemet, Calif., along with his fellow Granite Mountain hotshot, Chris MacKenzie. He joined the hotshot crew in April.
Clayton Whitted, 28
Full of heart and determination, Whitted, 28, might not have been the biggest guy around, but he was among the hardest-working. His former Prescott High School football coach, Lou Beneitone, said Whitted was a “wonderful kid” who always had a big smile on his face.
Kevin Woyjeck, 21
For Woyjeck, the fire station was always a second home. His father, Capt. Joe Woyjeck, is a nearly 30-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Keith Mora, an inspector with that agency, said Kevin often accompanied his dad to the station and on ride-alongs, and always intended to follow in his footsteps.
“He wanted to become a firefighter like his dad and hopefully work hand-in-hand,” Mora said Monday.
Grant McKee, 21
Joe Thurston, 32
Garret Zuppiger, 27
