Hemet Native Killed in Arizona's Yarnell Hill Fire Coming Home

One of two Hemet natives who lost their lives battling an out-of-control fire in Arizona will be honored at a memorial service in his hometown this Saturday, fire officials announced. 

The service is planned for Christopher MacKenzie on July 13 at the Ramona Bowl Amphitheater, 27400 Ramona Bowl Road.

The 30-year-old Hemet High School graduate was one of 19 firefighters from the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshots killed battling the now-infamous Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30.

He will be flown home from Arizona aboard a National Guard C-130 to the  Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos on Wednesday, where he and firefighter Kevin Woyjeck will both be honored with a memorial ramp ceremony.

"This gives California firefighters the opportunity for the California fire service to pay its respects to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice," a Cal Fire news release stated.

After that ceremony, Cal Fire and the United States Forest Service will escort MacKenzie by way of a procession to the Miller Jones Mortuary in Hemet.

MacKenzie began his firefighting career here in Southern California, with the U.S. Forest Service.  Prior to that, he had worked for the city of Hemet in high school, in their Clean City Youth Program, according to mayor Robert Youssef.

"He started his career as a seasonal fire fighter with the U.S. Forest Service, and served on the Taquitz crew in the San Jacinto National Forest," a Cal Fire memorial page says.  "From there he went on to serve on a helicopter crew for the Bureau of Land Management and the Mill Creek hotshots in the San Bernardino National Forest."

After being invited to apply to the elite Granite Mountain Hot Shots by one of his former captains, MacKenzie had just started his third season as a full-time employee of Prescott Fire Department as a lead crew member when he died, according to Cal Fire.

MacKenzie is survived by his mother Lauri Goralski, father (and retired Cal Fire captain) Michael MacKenzie, brother Aaron MacKenzie, stepmother Janice MacKenzie, and stepsisters Janae Gier and Jill Allison.

According to authorities, the hotshots' bodies were found on a hillside by an Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter crew. Some of the firefighters had taken cover in protective tents they apparently deployed in a last-ditch effort to escape a tide of flames.

Another Hemet native and Hemet High graduate, Billy Warneke, was also killed in the Yarnell Hill fire.  However, his memorial services are all taking place in Arizona, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

There are around 100 hotshot crews based throughout the United States. The crews are considered elite for their skills and ability to work fires under the most rugged and hazardous conditions.

The Granite Mountain Hotshot loss is believed to be the worst wildland firefighting tragedy since the 1933 Griffith Park Fire in Los Angeles, during which 29 firemen were killed.


– City News Service contributed to this report.