Transcript
0:04
it's more than I expected we a prison crew
0:10
[Music]
0:49
so good morning I know it's been hot out here and thank you for your patience I want to welcome you to Bonita Creek my
0:54
name is Mike Lynch and on behalf of Bita Creek community my wife and I we want to thank you you for joining us today in
1:01
this very special dedication ceremony to honor six perville crew firefighters
1:08
that lost their lives during the dude Fire June 26 1990 I call them the Perryville 6 it
1:16
consisted of this block wall we had the flag we had the names that are now over
1:21
on our tribute board those were wood carved names they sat right under me
1:26
here on the wall and we also planted one Pine tree for each of the Fallen six the
1:33
elk came in and they knocked all the pine trees down you know how they like to do that all the monsoon rains winter
1:38
snows they eroded the plaques they eroded this area and it was overgrown
1:43
with love grass and mananita and it looked really really rundown so many
1:49
good-hearted people get together and work hard what can be
1:54
achieved and I want to take this moment to thank the community volunteers
2:01
and I see up here the big studs from the Pac and ranger district firefighters that helped us move all these rocks back
2:08
here the water wh uh fire district and so many other people that helped us we
2:14
also had two of the surviving firefighters join us um Bill and Patrick
2:20
they came up on the weekend spent several weekends rubbing elbows with our volunteers Patrick uh knows a lot about
2:27
masonry because he grouted in all the Capstone while we all 25 of us sat and
2:32
watched them and then we found out that bill is a class A mechanic um Bill
2:40
actually fixed one of our neighborhood tractors but something else they did too
2:45
they sat here and we all would just sit on the bench over there and look at the memorial then we would say you know help
2:51
us design this and lay it out so it best honors the perville 6 so we would move
2:58
things around and look at it from different angles and I hope everybody here can see the results and how special
3:04
this is now there's some other special people I need to think this all started
3:09
with Bobby scopa I didn't know who Bobby scopa was but I got a phone call one day and somebody asked me if they could walk
3:16
across my property if you're going to do one of your staff rides by all means the
3:22
subject circled around to the dude fire and I was telling her the problems we had and that my wife and I had worked on
3:28
this project for 7even years and all the bumps in the road we had and Bobby said I think I can help you but Bobby
3:34
connected me with all the right people to get this project finished foremost
3:40
Bobby then introduced me to a filmmaker who is currently doing a documentary on
3:46
the Perryville 6 the Perryville crew and the dud fire and that's Scott Briggs he was the one that came up here and took
3:53
some mic time away from me he'll be speaking today and then we realized at one point this only started as a res a
4:01
restoration we were just going to do a simple restoration it grew into a full-blown dedication as that on behalf
4:08
of our community from the bottom of my hearts I want to I want to just thank everyone for what you've done uh there's
4:14
two other people I need to thank real quickly my wife uh she was with me here every step of the way those of you that
4:21
know her she's as skinny as a string bean but she's tougher in a $2 steak and
4:27
she did everything she she dug she painted she rolled rocks she did gravel
4:32
so thank you honey and also a very special person uh without Jim Sumpter
4:39
this is on private land this Memorial uh would never have been set up and we we
4:45
have never been allowed to go through this restoration process so Jimmy thank
4:50
you so much and I can you come up and just say a couple words first
5:00
so D said we lost everything here but we didn't lose any life these people gave
5:10
everything so it's with great honor this thank
5:23
you so at this time I'd like to introduce our first speaker and that is Bobby scopa Bobby is a retired
5:29
firefighter with 45 years experience an author podcast host and public speaker
5:36
and as I mentioned Bobby knew the right people to bring this Vision to reality
5:42
and it's my pleasure to bring I got a call from the wildland
5:47
firefighter Foundation they are an outstanding group that does outstanding work for Wildland firefighters all
5:55
around the country and Vicky Miner was the past executive director and she
6:01
called me and said I hear that the the memorial is really run down and you were
6:07
at the dude fire is there anything you can help with to to put this together
6:12
and um and I said well I can make some calls and so um uh thankfully Mike
6:19
answered his phone and uh it led to Mike's involvement and SC Scotty and so
6:25
when I was young my parents had a cabin here in Bonita Creek just up the hill it it burned down in the in the fire along
6:33
with a lot of others I don't brag that I was a Structure protection person in this fire subdivision burned down and we
6:40
lost six Brave firefighters um and I had been with the
6:45
crew the perville crew just a few minutes before the the blow the blow up
6:51
occurred I want to just say a couple things about the Perryville crew on this
6:57
fire and every fire they went on they were firefighters and I've worked with inm Crews all over the country and there are
7:04
no harder working folks than the inmate Crews and I think in large part because
7:11
they feel like they're trying to prove something and then the fatalities occurred but in 1990 when our folks
7:20
perished in that fire we didn't do anything it was a giant failure in the
7:27
system but we weren't prepared for that sort of thing back then it wasn't normal
7:34
unfortunately these events have become more normal now finally 34 years later we're
7:42
providing the appropriate the proper kind of memorial for our lost fellow
7:49
firefighters now let me mention a little bit that came out of this fire about lce there's lce over there
7:58
and if you're a firefighter we talk about Lookouts Communications Escape Routes and safety zones that is a key
8:06
tenant to our firefighting training now Paul gon who was one of the hot shot
8:13
superintendant that was on the fire um and was very involved uh rescuing Jeff
8:19
he and I started down to to where the the deployment site was the fatality
8:26
site and I couldn't go any further I turned around and started walking back up couldn't do it and he went down and
8:35
found the bodies and he was a changed
8:40
man he was so upset so angry from that but from his anger and his angst he came
8:49
up with the lce a standard that we use around the country and Canada uses it be modified a
8:56
little bit but lce came from this fire and the loss of these lives that's
9:02
significant because LC has continued to save lives now I'm just going to wrap
9:08
this up real quick I don't want to take too much time but I want to talk about firefighters dying trying to protect
9:15
subdivisions it happens every summer it happens every year and it's going to
9:21
continue happening because we put typically our young people fighting the fire in really hazardous condition
9:29
trying to protect the subdivision that's all this was all this action that we were taking back here that day 34 years
9:35
ago it was to protect Bonita Creek now I get a little angry every time another
9:42
firefighter dies trying to protect the subdivision it makes me angry because
9:47
I've witnessed so many times where we um are going in to fight a fire and the
9:54
residents haven't really done anything to protect their property and we put people at RIS because of that now we're
10:01
we're making these folks out to be heroes I don't like that word because I don't think we treat our Wildland
10:08
firefighters like Heroes until they die if you want to make a difference what you can do in this subdivision or
10:14
wherever you live is keep your house safe from Wildfire you be the hero make
10:21
the lives easier of the firefighters when we come in to protect a subdivision
10:27
and your home so I'm going to leave leave it on that note um to help all of
10:33
them help you and thanks for being here today my honor and my privilege to bring
10:39
Bill Davenport Patrick Flippin and Jeff Hatch up here everybody has that one
10:45
moment in life it defines who they really are this was actually one of mine
10:52
on June 26 1990 I survived hell working on this project
11:00
what the guys say uh flapped me in the face brought it all
11:06
back the good the bad it all just came rushing back and after I'd done so much to
11:14
suppress every bit of it I I just stayed away I went off the deep end after the
11:21
fire I got into drugs alcohol there was even suicide attempt
11:28
so it was beat me up inside literally one of the firefighters James
11:34
Ellis his death really bothered me after burn was done and we were uh out of our
11:41
shelters I actually stuck like blue to one of the guys that was burned pretty
11:46
bad and uh he was actually in charge so I stuck with him at the front of the
11:51
group that was trapped finally we get to the control Road and that's when I noticed that James wasn't there I asked
11:58
what happened to him and I was told he was he just sat down I was mad I wanted to go
12:07
back there that green pickup truck that showed up to pick us up wouldn't let me go back
12:13
in I felt horrible I knew I could have done
12:19
something or at least tried I carried that around for 34 years
12:26
few months ago I was talking with somebody about the fire and I found out that James couldn't have
12:32
survived couldn't have been saved because his lungs were burned out he passed pretty quickly that's been 34
12:39
years feeling guilty about not going back in Fall I should have talked to
12:45
somebody about this long before suffering alone's no way to go through
12:57
life if and I'm sincere if anybody needs somebody to talk to about something like
13:04
this would be an honor my name is Bill Davenport I'm on
13:10
Facebook I'm on Instagram send me a message I'll be glad to talk to you and I won't be doing
13:16
this God's given me some extra time for some reason some pretty big
13:22
names have been diagnosed with pancreatic and stomach cancer they were all dead within a year
13:28
I just passed pass my second
13:35
anniversary God's not done with me yet amen I want to thank everybody for
13:40
coming out especially the firefighters I I'm just so proud of the Harville crew being here I love the
13:47
equipment it's great wish we had stuff like that back when I was doing it folks I'm going to step away I I you've heard
13:53
enough from me anyhow
14:03
Al flipping would you please come up share some of your stories with us I know your lovely wife and your dog Tyson
14:09
are here today you them I'd like to thank everybody for coming out today
14:14
it's a Monumental day we never saw this we
14:20
never saw this kind of commitment from the from the community from the officers
14:26
the only people that we did see it from was from our fellow fire Fighters and I commend you for that I thank you for
14:32
accepting us as a prison crew to be right beside you and you guys not giving
14:39
a second thought as to are we capable we went through the same training had to
14:45
pass all the same physicals the oral everything we were no different but over
14:51
the last 34 years it shown that the upper
14:56
echelon thought we were less it saddens me that it takes something so
15:03
tragic to bring all of this to life I'm not going to make this a long
15:08
speech because it's not about me it's about these six that are up
15:16
here I devoted my my
15:21
life to God
15:27
himself um I may not always show it but in my heart in my mind he's 100% there
15:35
amen my wife ala Flippin um I have a couple of friends
15:42
here with us as well Anthony and Priscilla
15:48
waa and of course my dog Tyson um he's getting really comfortable
15:54
with the girls over there this is about them again
15:59
and it's not about me it's not about my other two fellow firefighters this is
16:05
Norman Enriquez and Jeff hat um they choose not to speak but they're here
16:12
showing their support and their pres with their presence so thank you
16:21
guys and on that point it's another sad thought that it's taken 32 years
16:29
for me to see Norman rkus for the first time and it's
16:35
been 34 years and several days since I saw Jeff Hatch the last time the last
16:42
time I saw him was on that fire so
16:48
um with that I'm going to close here but there again I want to thank all of you
16:53
from the bottom of my heart and But there again it's not about me up
16:59
here so thank you John uh is with the Department of Forestry and excuse me and
17:06
fire management he's a State Fire management officer and has de de Decades
17:11
of experience in fires and Forestry and he's going to talk to us a little bit been asked here to to come here and
17:18
it's an honor to be here uh to represent the Arizona fire service and the the Arizona fire service makes up all of our
17:25
federal state local volunteer fire departments and of course our our
17:30
docc um you know the importance of of the fire service is that you know this is a it's a Brotherhood and a Sisterhood
17:38
so you know everybody thinks there's h a million of us out there but there's not you know we find ourselves running into
17:43
each other on fire to fire fire out out through the West so that's how we develop that that Bond and that that
17:49
that that culture that we have and that Brotherhood and Sisterhood we have you can see it on display today um you know
17:56
we just U you proud to honor our in uh and for all that I would just uh want to
18:03
thank you all for being here uh you are of the community that we protect and serve and it's an honor for me to be
18:09
here again that that you are here to honor our fallen 12 Crews throughout the state and they're a vital resource for
18:16
us uh we only have uh we in addition to our our type two Crews the doc Crews we
18:22
have one type two IIA crew that's all we have to our disposal you obviously the federals have hand Crews and whatnot but
18:29
our 12 Crews they're they're busy all the way from March until we get the monsoons you know they're trained
18:35
they're trained hard so again hats off to to the perville crew and uh again I
18:41
want to thank all of you for for being here you're the community that we protect and serve and uh we appreciate
18:46
you honoring our falling thank
18:53
you next I want to bring up Matt pic um he's a pacing District Ranger
18:59
Matt has worked with the forest service for 24 years and has been a district Ranger for 13 he's going to talk to us a
19:05
little bit about uh the surrounding area here and something that's been going on for a couple years now the dude fire
19:12
protection plan that they have and uh how it saves firefighters lives and what
19:18
it's doing for the environment so Matt would you please
19:25
com well it's been a pleasure working with the community on this project um just learning of all their effort to
19:32
put this together today um hearing how much that means to them and all of us here um has been a
19:39
great experience as you drove in today you drove in through the dude fire restoration project if you noticed uh
19:47
either coming in from the east or the West we've been doing a lot of work in the past couple years um around this
19:53
community and others um this work involves having Machinery to grinded up the brush and uh
20:01
all the stuff that has grown up since the the dude fire 34 years ago um
20:06
eventually it's going to include prescribed fire and also replanting of trees um to uh make this Force like
20:15
closer to what it was before the fire this work will not only help protect Community um but like I said return it
20:21
to like the area once was um over 8,000 Acres of this work is
20:27
planned uh the next few years and work that would not have happened without the
20:32
support of uh the Department of Forestry and fire management and SRP you know for me the all the great
20:40
work that this Monument uh represents doesn't just end right here for me it
20:45
really extends out into the forest um as kind of a Showcase of what um uh this
20:52
community is and how important it is and how important is this Forest is to the uh the community and the state
21:03
so so Matt my wife and I have a lot of here where you can practice planting trees
21:10
if thank you he's passionate about it it's it's his life work and he put his heart into it and uh gotot come up here
21:17
and say some words to us thank you
21:31
Kevin Cosner
21:36
everybody um I'm like Mike I'm gonna try and get through this without without uh
21:42
we both were like are you gonna break down I'm not gonna break down um I think I've broken down about 50 times a day
21:48
and I think the first time was I saw Jeff Hatch we were down in in the Walmore
21:54
Canyon and I I'm so honored for you to be here brother and and uh I I'm so glad
22:00
to see your smiling face and and uh and I know God had a plan for every everyone
22:05
and and I'm I'm so glad that he had a plan for you I I brought Bill up here for the first time and Bill I'm I'm
22:13
filming him and I I ask him like what do you think about about about this monument and bill says it's small but
22:20
it's more than I expected for a prison crew and that broke me and that's when I
22:27
was like man we we got to do better like we we got to do better as a society and and and honoring our our wild men
22:33
firefighters that they're the ones we they're the one first group of First Responders that are just we kind of
22:39
leave them out of the equation and Dave Dennison who's trying to get here and hopefully he'll he'll still make it Dave
22:45
was part of of the the Napo Scout crew which was down here in Perryville and and let me tell you and I'm I'm gonna
22:51
speak for Dave because his his story needs to be told he was one of the last ones out and I know Patrick he was the
22:57
one who helped you up when you fell and and got you up as well as others they they were up in the canyon and they
23:03
recognized that something was wrong and they they their Lookout was the one who spotted the fire going and said
23:09
run and everybody started running out and anybody knows navajos they know how to run they're the fastest runners in
23:16
the world they ran so fast and got down to the bottom of the canyon they came up and came back to help I I'd like to just
23:23
say something really quick about the wild end firefighter Foundation I heard about this group I had to meet them and
23:28
about this incredible woman who started this organization she said get your ass up here Scott we're going to we're going to spend some time together and and we
23:35
we hung out for for about a week and and I followed them around and watched what they did and how much they care and and
23:41
when there's a a death on the line and when there's an injury there's not a lot for the Wildland firefighters and this
23:48
group um is funded mostly by Wildland firefighters they they do ski shoots and
23:53
ice fishing tournaments and all sorts of stuff they're very self-funded um and when there's a problem they know that
23:59
the foundation's going to be there to to pick them up they're going to be able to have they they'll get them a check what whatever that family needs they're
24:05
they're taking care of they sustain the homes of the families of the fallen and they're just a wonderful organization
24:11
that 97% of that money that they collect in goes right to the firefighters they're lean and mean and they just do a
24:17
great job so I'd like to have a hand for the wildland firefighter foundation for for helping us with with this
24:23
monument and real quickly Bobby Mike uh Susan our great from the Tano National
24:29
Forest um Tiffany and and uh and everybody from from Arizona State Fire at Salt River Project thank you so much
24:36
thank you for carrying and most of all thank you for all being here uh it's it's such an honor to see you here
24:42
Pastor Bob coming all the way from from Florida my friend Marty came all the way from he he called me up goes I'm coming
24:48
out and he flew all the way here from uh from Montana to be here and help us and thank you again very much and um the
24:54
film hopefully will will be done soon this is just everybody's stories of what their experience was on this fire and
25:00
it's important to share these stories help help people heal um you know by by sharing these stories so again thank you
25:06
very much and Anette thank you so much for coming to thank
25:11
you let's pray heavenly
25:17
father to you be all the glory everything said all the glory and while
25:23
we're in say hi to the boys and lady for us we
25:28
honor them we honor you first father I want to start up by saying that
25:35
uh I is that grounds right did five tours of ground Z I was there for the 343 firemen who perished and all the
25:42
civilians uh who called it the world's largest crimes I was there for the five Dallas
25:49
officers who were murdered by a sniper I was there for the three Baton Rouge officers who were murdered by a
25:55
sniper I was there for the grand Mountain Hot Shots the 19 I was one of
26:00
the many chaplain there it's a Never Ending Story friends anybody out there who's a first responder or serves the
26:07
community you may one day do the ultimate sacrifice we sure appreciate you it's it's a blessing knowing we have
26:15
protection of these men and women we're here for them today seems like it's 34
26:20
years late but uh they never really had a proper Signa it's scary yes it's scary
26:27
and when the mistake are made they say forget the mistake remember the lesson amen always
26:34
remember yeah we make mistakes but remember the lesson I've dubbed these
26:39
men and Lady Heaven's greeters because they were there when the 343 firemen
26:45
were killed waiting for them at the Heaven's Gate holding them and shaking their hands they were there when the 19
26:53
youngn N Rock hot shots were killed they greeted them at the Heaven's Gate
26:59
they're standing in for us till we get there amen so remember
27:04
Curtis James
27:10
Sandra Alex James and
27:17
Joseph they did the ultimate sacrifice and remember
27:22
that you're he one moment and you're going another protect all our First
27:27
Responders I thank you for the pray riew crew that gave their life on behalf of this community and I thank you for the
27:34
current pray review that you're protect them and watch over them and guide all of us in the precious name of Jesus
27:40
Christ amen thank you very
27:47
much how do you follow that thank you so we found out today that we had a
27:55
couple very special guests that I want bring up here my name is Nels Ron horse
28:01
real name is Nelson Ron horse uh my wife and I we came from St Michaels Arizona
28:08
way up in the Northeast part of the state I have a some information to share
28:14
about what actually happened with our Navajo Scouts one crew on this uh June
28:23
26 199 I will always remember what actually happened we had two navajos
28:29
Scouts crew Dave Dennison had the other crew and uh he's in route here um uh Na
28:36
graduate long time ago 1974 I always tend to run into na
28:43
Lumberjacks those of there I see some hands there you go I went to work for
28:48
the forest Service uh and at the end work for the P but we reported to the uh the ICP and
28:58
they haven't even set up the uh the camp yet at the time so the uh the division
29:04
supervisor uh sent us an assignment to come out here and join in with the paril
29:10
crew I uh communicated with uh my other uh crew boss crew rep Dave Dennison and
29:17
I I told him you know what if from what I'm saying up ahead this is not going to be an enjoyable day all I saw everybody
29:25
saw just uh black smoke and we could tell that the the fire was moving he
29:31
asked us which crew have saws and I I told him my crew so he picked the crew
29:37
to work with the uh the hot shop and that's where we end up going up that uh Dozer line we walked up WM more Canyon
29:46
there was no safeties other than the burn out areas the night before the fire
29:51
had burned heavy in spots the night before so we were asked to just kind of
29:56
go up the uh the Dozer line until we made the foran and the smoke was so thick that visibility was only 20 to 30
30:03
ft at 14 15 which is what 2:15 in the afternoon the radio traffic was uh
30:10
turned in for the worst at this point people were start to walk over each other on the radio and uh Air Attack
30:18
next radio message stopped me in my tracks and I thought to myself the two
30:25
spot fires ready to cross the control room most likely making a run up to
30:31
where we are walking the safety zone is still control road down below us and I
30:36
could see the flame above the Treetops and it was really moving below us it was
30:42
coming towards us uh the pilot of the uh the Air Attack says you guys are at
30:48
least half a mile from your safety zone the fire is below the uh the Dozer line below you better turn around and the
30:55
safety officer I said I copy we are turning back around the line a wall of fire
31:01
below us they jumped the Dozer line I said move the crew run up the doer line
31:06
because they told us that uh the Hot Shot foran will be waiting for us to
31:12
take us to where their safety zone is so we just start moving uphill thinking to
31:18
myself this is it we either make it or we don't and uh I was there in 10
31:24
minutes uh 14:45 the midafternoon sky I turned black Embers and Ashes were
31:30
flying everywhere I can feel the heat and hear the flames and crackling above
31:36
us smoke was unbearable at times meanwhile the hot shot foran made
31:43
contact with the elite plane for the taker so he he gave us the coordinates
31:49
and we were only about half a mile for for the sign safety zone was someone yell oh shall we deploy shelters my
31:58
response negative we are safe the slurry dropper is coming to cool the area
32:03
around us stay in your position the fire roll around us where we sought safety
32:11
just minutes earlier we maintained our position inside the the black with the the baker River hot hot shot next we
32:19
heard emergency communication I pulled out my radio and turned up the volume it
32:25
was the OBS to talking to the IC it was something about some members of the
32:31
perville crew cannot be accounted for half an hour later we heard what all
32:36
firefighters read to hear so this uh concludes my my report
32:43
that uh it brings back old old memories old memories thank
32:55
you we're very honored today uh to have Alex contras who is over here
33:02
on the firefighters sister actually showed up today and we're so blessed to have her here and she wanted to say it
33:11
good thank you everyone for coming I am only here to
33:18
represent my brother Alex just so that you just kind of know what he was like
33:25
he was ready he was ready to go home that
33:32
morning when he ran to the bus 6: a.m. he called
33:38
us at home and he said I'm going home I'm going home I'm
33:44
going home I'm going to God's country he said I'm going to God's country and he
33:51
ran and got in the bus so all the glory and all the honor goes to God
34:00
amen a brother will lay down his life for another brother and that's how we
34:08
saw it for everything in anything here in
34:15
this journey there is a reason and a purpose we can do better we will get
34:23
stronger and more courageous if we get to know the
34:30
Creator that's why he allowed to happen what happened absent
34:37
with the body is present with the Lord that's why Alex knew he was going
34:45
home he was ready and there is no better home than heaven and eternal
34:53
life so this is the good news
34:58
let Alex and me encourage
35:05
you that we honor them but the glory goes to God
35:14
[Music]
35:24
[Music]
35:30
[Music]
35:39
[Music]