YARNELL, AZ — The Yarnell Hill tragedy led to unimaginable pain for the family and friends of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
For three widows and their children though, the grieving process was interrupted by an ongoing legal battle for full retirement benefits.
Pat McGroder represented 12 of the Granite Mountain Hotshot families 'in a wrongful death action against the state forester.'
The experienced and high-profile Valley lawyer quickly realized there was more to litigate.
“When I found out that these seasonal employees were being denied benefits, my ire rose even more,” he said, reflecting back to the case nearly a decade ago.
The wrongful death lawsuit was settled, and each family received $50,000.
The state retirement benefits though, “were probably in the millions of dollars,” McGroder said.
Some hotshot families immediately received death benefits, but the City of Prescott’s Public Safety Personnel Retirement System argued some of the hotshots’ loved ones were not eligible for the pension payments for decades to come.
“The City of Prescott, through their local PSPRS… took the position that at least three of the hotshots that lost their life that day were seasonal employees and not full-time employees, thereby precluding them from PSPRS benefits,” said McGroder.
It took two years, and multiple trials and appeals, but McGroder and the families of Andrew Ashcraft, William “Billy” Warneke, and Sean Misner won their benefits.
“Our cause was just,” said McGroder. “We felt these families deserved everything that we could get them under the rule of law…It's one of the proudest moments of my career.”
McGroder though acknowledges the case did not overhaul how seasonal hotshots are categorized when it comes to state benefits.
“I don't think there's been any structural or fundamental changes in the law,” said McGroder.
There has not been. Arizona law still states that for a firefighter or police officer to be eligible for PSPRS benefits they need to average at least 40 hours per week [and] work for more than six months in a calendar year.
“It doesn't sit well at all,” said longtime Forest Service firefighter, Luke Mayfield. “You have a workforce of first responders that in large part, up until the last few years, have been underrepresented, under-recognized and under-compensated.”
Mayfield was on a hotshot assignment in Tucson during the tragic day in 2013.
I started getting text messages asking if I was all right,” said Mayfield, who attended the memorial service the following week. “It's the JFK moment of my life and wildland fire.”
Mayfield believes the system should have rewritten its definitions.
“I think that we need to work in a system that says ‘Yes,’ and supports seasonal firefighters… regardless of what your work schedule is,” he said.
“Would I have liked to have seen an easier path for seasonal firefighters?” asked McGroder, rhetorically. “Yes, absolutely. But in terms of looking at the totality of what PSPRS has to do on a daily basis, I'm not quite sure that that's practical.”
McGroder also said he believes their legal victories for the widows and children set a “moral and ethical precedent.”
Mayfield Luke hopes leaders and the public realize the importance of every man and woman who moves towards the fire line.
“The workforce isn't expendable,” said Mayfield. “They're not sticking around and they need to be supported and recognized as professional first responders that are providing a very technical and skilled service to the American taxpayer.”
Both McGroder and Luke hope a legal battle over death benefits is never needed again.
“My prayer is that all of these children grow up as strong as their fathers,” said McGroder.
