Devastated Arizona Hotshot widow left to raise four children alone is DENIED lifetime benefits after city claims her husband was a 'seasonal' firefighter

• Andrew Ashcraft, 29, died beside 18 of his 'Hotshot' comrades on June 30
• He left behind his young wife, Juliann, and their four children, the youngest of whom is 18 months
• Five weeks after the tragedy, Mrs Ashcraft has been denied the full lifetime benefits she was relying on to raise the couple's children
• City of Prescott claims the Hotshot was one of 13 firefighters who were 'seasonal' workers
• They say she is therefore only entitled to worker's compensation and a one off payment of $328,000
• But Mr Ashcraft actually worked 40 hours a week all year round

By Lydia Warren and Helen Pow

A widow whose husband was killed courageously fighting a wildfire in Yarnell, Arizona five weeks ago is being denied the lifetime benefits she was counting on to raise the couple's four young children alone.
Juliann Ashcraft's husband, Andrew, was one of 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighters who lost their lives when a fire they were battling suddenly changed direction and engulfed them.
Mr Ashcraft, like his colleagues, was protecting the people of Yarnell when he died, tragically leaving his young family without a husband, father or income. But the city of Prescott, where the Hotshots were based, is now claiming he was a seasonal worker, despite him working a 40 hour week year round, and denying Mrs Ashcraft full benefits.
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Confused: Juliann Ashcraft, pictured, is fighting with the city of Prescott for the benefits she is being denied

Children: Mrs Ashcraft, pictured, was left to raise her four children alone

'As shocked as I was that my husband went to work and never came home, I'm equally shocked in how the city has treated our family since then,' Mrs Ashcraft, whose youngest child is just 18 months old, told CBS News.
All 19 Hotshot families will receive worker's compensation and a one-off federal payment of $328,000.

 

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But the city is refusing to pay Mrs Ashcraft her husband's lifetime salary and health benefits, which together are worth millions, because it insists he was among 13 of the squad who were seasonal employees rather than full-timers.
Only six of the 19 firefighters are entitled to full-time benefits, the city claims.
'I said to them, "My husband was a full-time employee, he went to work full-time for you,"' she said, 'and their response to me was, "Perhaps there was a communication issue in your marriage."'
CBS News has seen paperwork showing Mr Ashcraft did infact earn a full-time salary as a firefighter for the city of Prescott. He was the only one of the 13 Hotshots denied full benefits who worked a 40 hour week through out the year.

In love: Juliann, right, is pictured with Andrew Ashcraft, left, in happier times

Heartbreaking: Not only was Juliann Ashcraft, pictured, devastated to lose her husband, she is now facing raising their four children without the benefits she is entitled to

In a statement to CBS News, Prescott officials said the city had 'fully complied with all of the laws and employment polices that direct survivor benefits.'
But Mrs Ashcraft, still mourning the loss of her 29-year-old hero, is desperate for help, as the costs associated with bringing up four children mount.
'Quite literally, my bills are being paid by the good people of the world who are giving donations, because the city of Prescott isn't doing anything for us,' she told the TV station. 'Now I have four kids and myself, and I don't know what I'm going to do.
'I want to be able to just be mourning my husband, be supporting my children, be figuring out what our new normal is.'
The shocking treatment comes five weeks after the mother-of-four learned by watching the news that her firefighter husband had perished in the intense blaze that burned scores of homes to the ground.
Just days after the men's deaths, Mrs Ashcraft revealed the last conversation she had with her husband - and her fears when he never responded to her text messages.

Heartbroken: Juliann Ashcraft, cries alongside her father Tom Ashcraft outside of the Granite Mountain Hotshot fire station in Prescott on Monday July 1

Struggle: Juliann Ashcraft, left, will only get a one-off payment of $328,000 and workers' compensation

Mrs Ashcraft sobbed as she recounted the bravery of her beloved husband and his close unit of highly-trained 'hotshot' colleagues, who were overcome by the ferocious flames in Yarnell.
She said she had been texting her husband throughout the day - with him telling her how much he loved and missed her, and how proud he was of their young children - until he abruptly stopped.
'I asked, "Will you be sleeping out there tonight?"' she told the Today show early last month as she struggled to hold back the tears. 'And of course there was no reply and they all laid out there that night.'
She added that she had been sending him pictures of their children swimming that day, and how his daughter had commented that she wished he was there to see the thunder storm with them.
He responded that he wished for that too. 'We could sure use some rain over here,' he said.
Mr Ashcraft also sent his wife a picture of their view of the smoke and flames from his team's lunch spot on Sunday, and Juliann said that she was not particularly concerned when she saw it.

Final moments: Mrs Ashcraft shared the final image Andrew Ashcraft texted her before the 19 firefighters were killed by the flames

An honorary flagpole is shown at the site where the 19 firefighters died

The devastation has been described as a 'moonscape' after an inferno so intense that only the metal part of one chain saw was found

'It still did not look as catastrophic as it turned out to be,' she said. 'But he let us know that he loved us and missed us. Because of the dangers of the job, he would always tell us that he loved us.'
Family photographs reveal a picture perfect family as Juliann and Andrew are seen grinning and kissing, as well as laughing along with their four young children.
She told the Today show how, apart from his family, fighting fires with the Granite Mountain Hotshots was his life.
'He was the most amazing man,' she said. 'The best person I know. A contagious smile, a heart of gold. That's why he did what he did, because he want to protect the community where he lived.'
Of his team, she added: 'They loved what they did. These men lived together. They fought fires together. They died together - doing what they loved.'
On July 1, the day after the men were killed, Mrs Ashcraft was pictured distraught at a makeshift memorial in Prescott for the fallen firefighters. She said she learned of her husband's death while watching the news with their four children.

'They died heroes,' she told azcentral.com as she wept. 'And we'll miss them. We love them.'
Prescott High School physical education teacher and coach Lou Beneitone taught many of the Hotshots, and remembered Ashcraft as a fitness-oriented student.
'He had some athletic ability in him and he was a go-getter, too. You could pretty much see, from young freshman all the way, he was going to be physically active.'

Engulfed: 19 firefighters died as the wildfire spread near the Arizona town of Yarnell

Beneitone said athletic prowess was a must for the Hotshots. 'That's what it takes. You gotta be very physically fit, and you gotta like it, gotta like the hard work.'
Ashcraft, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was honored to be a member of the Hotshot crew, and 'he just had a really sweet spirit about him,' Elise Smith, a Prescott, Arizona, resident, told The Deseret News of Salt Lake City.

As the bodies of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were recovered, it emerged that the team's 20th member survived as he was moving the crew's truck when the flames overcame his comrades.

Helicopters had been unable to reach the highly-trained men as they fought the flames in Yarnell and they could not be saved by their emergency shelters - tent-like structures meant to shield them from flames and heat.
When they were found on Sunday, all 19 shelters were deployed but some of the men's bodies were inside their individual shelters, while others were outside - indicating just how suddenly they were overcome by the flames.
'It had to be a perfect storm in order for this to happen,' Prescott Fire Department spokesman Wade Ward told the Today show last month.
President Obama called the firefighters heroes and highly skilled professionals who 'put themselves in harm's way to protect the lives and property of fellow citizens they would never meet.'
The highly-skilled team was overtaken by a fast-moving blaze stoked by hot winds on Sunday.
The fire was sparked by a lightning strike on Friday and spread to at least 8,400 acres amid triple-digit temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions.

Death toll: The Yarnell wildfire is the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least 30 years

The fire has also destroyed an estimated 200 homes. Dry grass near the communities of Yarnell and Glen Isla fed the fast-moving blaze.
It was unclear exactly how the crew became trapped. Southwest incident team leader Clay Templin said the team and its commanders were following safety protocols, but it appears the fire's erratic nature simply overwhelmed them.

At the time, Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said the 19 firefighters were a part of the city's fire department. With their deaths, the department lost 20 per cent of its members.
'We grieve for the family. We grieve for the department. We grieve for the city,' he said at a news conference on June 30. 'We're devastated. We just lost 19 of the finest people you'll ever meet.'
Hot shot crews are elite firefighters who often hike for miles into the wilderness with chain saws and backpacks filled with heavy gear to build lines of protection between people and fires.
They remove brush, trees and anything that might burn in the direction of homes and cities.
The crew killed in the blaze had been working on other wildfires in recent weeks in New Mexico and Arizona, Fraijo said.