ONLY ON ABC15: Brendan McDonough was the only one of the Granite Mountain Hotshots to survive the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30, 2013. Now, ten years later, he can look back at the last decade and his fight for today.
YARNELL, AZ — Brendan McDonough was the only one of the Granite Mountain Hotshots to survive the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30, 2013."Every mirror you look in, there you are," says McDonough."Like, you can go wherever you want and what's in your head doesn't leave."
"Early on it was really difficult," he said."Like, I stopped going out to eat. Stopped going to the grocery store. Stopped doing multiple things, and it was... it was tough. And it wasn't that it was negative. It was just like, every time someone would say, 'Hey aren't you, Brendan Mcdonough? Like, we're thinking about you. We're praying for you.
A big part of that life is being a husband, a dad to three kids, and setting clear goals for himself. "Yeah," says McDonough,"Not if I can do it, but do I want to and can I? Can I close that chapter and be fine with that, with not pursuing a career in the structure side of things?"Now, he's rewriting the ending of his story on his own terms and never letting us all forget his 19 brothers he lost ten years ago."Their sacrifice, their sense of duty, and the love they had for their families and those they served," says McDonough.
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