A day after remembering 19 Hotshots killed in the Yarnell Hill Wildfire at a Memorial service, the Prescott City Council voted against giving one of them retirement benefits.
The city council voted 4-2 Tuesday to appeal in court the May decision of the city’s Public Safety Retirement Board to grant retirement benefits to the family of Andrew Ashcraft. He’s one of 13 the hotshots who was not classified as a permanent city employees.
The Granite Mountain Hotshots died June 30, 2013, when their position in a brush-choked canyon was overrun by the Yarnell Hill Wildfire.
A memorial service for them was held on Monday, the anniversary of their deaths.
Ashcraft’s widow Juliann says she’s disappointed in the council’s decision but is confident she will ultimately be granted the retirement benefits.