Posts By: NFFF

Juliann Ashcraft and her husband Andrew were twenty-somethings with four young children when he died in the line of duty in Prescott, Arizona on June 30, 2013. In fact, he was one of 19 wildland firefighters who died in the line of duty that day, with just one member of the crew surviving. Overwhelmed with gratitude for the strangers who sent letters and cards and offered support, Ashcraft converted a 40-foot Greyhound bus into a home on wheels and hit the road with her kids on a gratitude tour that would take them across the United States. Juliann wrote about the tour on a blog, and in this episode she talks about how she’s always used her writing to process her thoughts and feelings. She also describes how she recently added the word “gift” to her personal definition of the word “grief”—for without her experience of losing Andrew, she would not be who she is today.

Fire Hero family members often continue their loved one’s commitment to service. This episode focuses on two daughters of fallen firefighters who both lost their dads to heart attacks in the line of duty—in separate incidents, two years and hundreds of miles apart. Liza Aunkst ’s father, Mike, was a volunteer firefighter in Benedict, Nebraska; Rachel Prouty’s dad was fire chief in Brownsville, NJ. But the two young women became friends at NFFF’s Young Adult Retreat, an annual program that helps young people gain skills to deal with grief and build support systems as they move forward into full independence. Today, the young women have more than friendship and a similar story in common. Looking toward meaningful careers, both have chosen social work as their field. Hear them share their experiences of growing up amidst a dedication to service, finding connections to help face the future—and how legacy has played a role in each of their lives.