Mother of Fallen Granite Mountain Hotshot Files $36M Suit

Nov. 15, 2013
Marcia McKee is seeking $36M naming the state, the city and the county for the death of her son.

The mother of one of 19 firefighters killed battling the Yarnell Hill Fire has filed a notice of claim that she is going to sue parties she blames for her son's death.

A notice of claim released Friday shows Marcia McKee is seeking $36 million in her son, Grant's death -- $12 million each from the state of Arizona, the city of Prescott and Yavapai County, according to abc15.com.

McKee's claim is the first of its kind from any of the firefighters' families.

The notice of claim alleges McKee's son and 18 other Granite Mountain Hotshots died after "the liable public entities lost track of the location and direction of movement (of the team)...had deployed them carelessly, had negligently failed to coordinate their movements...had failed to maintain consistent, effective communication," the station reported, quoting the court document.

Read the suit

"With the use of modern technology and the application of old-fashioned common sense, the death of these fine men was entirely preventable," the paperwork contends.

All but one of the Hotshots died in the June 30 wildfire. 

Related

AP Photo/Cronkite News, Connor Radnovich
In this 2012 photo provided by the Cronkite News, Phillip Maldonado, a squad leader with the Granite Mountain Hotshots, trains crew members on setting up emergency fire shelters

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