Phoenix • A life-sized statue was unveiled Saturday honoring 19 members of a firefighting team known as the Granite Mountain Hotshots who died in a 2013 Arizona wildfire.
The statue was dedicated at a state memorial park established where all but one member of the team died in a canyon in mountains near Yarnell on June 30, 2013.
Matt Glenn of Provo, Utah-based Big Statues said the “Returning the Favor” television show hosted by Mike Rowe commissioned his team to make the bronze sculpture for the Wildland Firefighter Guardian Institute.
The institute, founded by survivors of two of the Hotshots, will formally turn over the 6-foot, 2-inch statue to the state during a May ceremony at the park located 66 miles (106 kilometers) northwest of Phoenix.