The nineteen Arizona firefighters who lost their lives battling a wildfire this past June 30 were rightly hailed as heroes in the media for days. But now that the spotlight has moved on to other stories and most of the public is no longer paying attention, city officials in Prescott, have decided that their heroism was apparently not worth the price of the death benefits that at least one of their families is expecting to receive.

CBS News reported on Monday that Prescott officials are claiming that thirteen of the nineteen deceased members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were “seasonal employees.” Therefore their families, according to the city, are not entitled to the pension and health benefits that full-time employees receive. While the families of all nineteen of the deceased firefighters will receive a payout of $328,000 from the federal government, as well as worker’s compensation, only the families of the six who were considered full-time employees will receive death benefits that include lifetime survivors’ benefits, a lump sum life insurance payment, and health insurance coverage. Those benefits are estimated to be worth millions of dollars. Prescott officials claim that Ashcraft’s family is not entitled to those benefits, because he wasn’t enrolled in the program that administers them.

While the United Yavapai Firefighters union, which represents Prescott firefighters, confirmed that twelve of the “hotshots” crew did work less than full-time schedules, one of them, 29-year-old Andrew Ashcraft, did in fact work a 40 hour week, year round. CBS News confirmed in their story that they had obtained paperwork supporting this claim. According to a story in the Arizona Republic/azcentral.com, Ashcraft was classified as a “temporary, seasonal employee” even though he worked in various jobs for the city on virtually a year round basis.

Andrew Ashcraft’s widow, Juliann, told CBS of the response she received from Prescott officials when she pointed out that her husband was a full-time employee.

I said to them, ‘My husband was a full-time employee, he went to work full-time for you,’and their response to me was, ‘Perhaps there was a communication issue in your marriage.’

According to CBS, city officials refused several requests for interviews, instead releasing the following statement:

The city has fully complied with all of the laws and employment policies that direct survivor benefits.

Juliann Ashcraft, who is considering a lawsuit against the city, told CBS

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. Now I have four kids and myself, and I don’t know what I’m going to do.

In twenty-first century America, even being regarded as a hero apparently doesn’t prevent some employers from trying to deny you and your family the benefits you have earned. There may have been a time when a city like Prescott, in recognition of the extraordinary service provided by these firefighters, would have passed a resolution giving full-time benefits to the families of all nineteen of the deceased. Instead, not only is there no talk of making such a provision for all of the families, Prescott is attempting to deny those benefits to the family of Andrew Ashcraft, who by all accounts had earned them.

Here’s the video: