Honoring the Hotshots
We owe a great deal to the selfless professionals who keep our Prescott area safe. More than a single agency is responsible as they all work together as a team in times of emergency. When they suffer losses to their ranks, our communities and families suffer. So it was on June 30,2013, nineteen of the Granite Mountain Hotshots Firefighters lost their lives working the Yarnell Fire. The whole country joined us in mourning our loss.
Various community organizations wanted “to do something” to honor the firefighters and their families. Alta Vista Garden Club, in its own unique way, wanted to help soothe the loss. The Beautification Committee decided to provide a 50-foot-long planter defining the front visitor parking lot. The plantings include spring daffodils and iris with names like Super Hero, Men Like Me, Living on the Edge and Pale Fire. In summer, blooming ground covers, peonies, Mahonia and Firefighter Rose bush appear. White clematis scales the red brick wall in autumn. Artist, Jody Skjei designed two trellises for the clematis.
Alta Vista cares for the plants coaxing them to bloom in honor of and remembering the fallen firefighters and their families.