The County of Los Angeles Fire Museum is pleased to announce that the Prescott (Arizona) City Council voted unanimously (7-0) to accept the museum’s bid to acquire the two crew transport trucks (buggies) used by the Granite Mountain Hot Shot Crew.
Nineteen of the 20 Granite Mountain Hot Shot crewmembers perished at the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30, 2013.
The buggies, which carried the Granite Mountain Hotshots throughout the Southwestern U.S. during the 2013 wildfire season, were deemed “surplus properties” by the City of Prescott since it had disbanded the unit.
The museum’s bid of $25,000 for both vehicles was the only bid submitted, according to Prescott City Manager Michael Lamar. Under terms of the deal, both of the buggies will be owned by the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum.
One of the buggies will go to the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum in Bellflower, and the other one is slated to be placed on loan to the Hall of Flame fire museum in Phoenix, Arizona.
When a suitable facility is built in Prescott, the buggie at the Hall of Flame will then be moved to Prescott.
“It goes without saying that the two Crew Trucks became more than just a means of transportation on that fateful day in 2013,” said County of Los Angeles Fire Museum President Paul Schneider.
“They have become tangible links to the men who perished, and for their families and friends. We have often stated at the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum that the fire apparatus we preserve are backdrops for the stories of the people who gave them purpose. The men of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshots must never be forgotten. The crew trucks in which they rode into battle so many times, including their last, must be preserved and made available to firefighters, future firefighters, and the public,” said Schneider.
Since 1988, the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum has been a 501 (C) 3 organization that currently boasts a dues-paying membership of nearly 3,000.
We are a fiscally stable organization with the means to care for our collection, which consists of over 60 vintage fire apparatus, as well as a wide assortment of firefighting tools, equipment, uniforms, documents and images.
We own a 10,000-square-foot building, rent a 14,000-square-feet warehouses, and will be moving into a brand new, purpose-built Fire Museum and Event Center in late-2017.
We have partnered with the City of Bellflower on this new facility, and construction is currently underway.
“The County of Los Angeles Fire Museum will make sure these rigs are treated with the respect they deserve for decades to come,” said museum Vice President Joe Woyjeck. www.lacountyfiremuseum.com.
