The Ironwood Hotshots crew will be disbanded after this year's wildfire season, Northwest Fire District confirmed today.
Northwest Fire, believed to be the only only fire agency in the nation sponsoring its own hotshot crew, will instead focus on core services, said Capt. Adam Goldberg, an agency spokesman.
Goldberg said disbanding the crew is a cost-saving measure that will allow the agency to seek a lower tax rate for its tax payers.
He refuted claims made earlier this week on a petition on Change.org saying the crew was being cut over fears of expensive lawsuits in the case of a tragedy, like those that followed the Yarnell Fire that killed 19 firefighters last summer near Prescott.
"Yarnell incident was not a factor in the decision to disband this team," said Goldberg, noting that higher insurance costs were not anticipated by having the crew. Full-time employees will be moved to others areas in the agency while the crew's 13 seasonal workers will be let go, Goldberg said.
