Above: The trailhead at Granite Mountain Memorial State Park May 19, 2017 before the modification featured in the program.
In the most recent episode of Mike Rowe’s Facebook series, “Returning the Favor” (below), he honors wildland firefighters as he spends time in Prescott, Arizona. The 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who perished in the Yarnell Hill Fire south of the city in 2013 were based in Prescott. Mr. Rowe talks with Deborah Pfingston and Roxanne Preston, co-founders of The Wildland Firefighter Guardian Institute, and reveals an improvement at the state park that honors the crew.
Ms. Pfingston’s son, Andrew Ashcraft, and Ms. Preston’s husband, William Warneke, were killed in the fire.
I don’t know when the show was filmed, and I won’t spoil the reveal at the end, but the change made at the Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park was not there when I visited the park in May of 2017.
have yet to see it,i will watch later today as im a big fan of Mike Rowe,met him when he did dirty jobs here in my hometown,they plugged an old mine vent shaft.id seen the hole many times and almost fell in it the first time i encountered it,funny now,but not then,scared the poop outta me.
anyway,now that im disabled,i pay attention to access issues,and first time i saw phjptos of the memorial,i noticed there was no good wheelchair accress.the trail looks ok all the way for the chair,but not those steps shown…i tend to notice what i cant do now more then what i can..lol