It is a sad day today as we find out that one of our brothers, Eric Marsh, lost his life. He was the superintendent of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC). They were fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire, about 35 miles southwest of Prescott Arizona when they were overtaken by the fire. Eric was one of the founding fathers at the Appalachian State University - NC Omega Tau chapter. You will be forever missed!
A loving husband and dedicated son, Eric Shane Marsh was born and raised in the mountains of North Carolina. He graduated with honors from Ashe Central High, where he was a running back on the football team. He graduated from Appalachian State with a degree as a biologist/naturalist and worked and excelled at several jobs, but the one he really loved was wildland firefighting. He worked for several years with the Globe hot shots out of Tonto National Forest.
Eric had a great love for the outdoors. He was a rock and ice climber who proposed to his wife on an ice climbing trip to Ouray, Colorado. He was also an equestrian with a great love for his horse, “Shorty,” a skier and member of the ski patrol at Sunrise Mountain, a fisherman, motorcyclist, and avid cyclist and mountain biker. He competed in endurance mountain bike races and recently completed a 24-hour mountain bike race as a part of a four-person relay team. He and a friend made a pact to compete in the next 24-hour race as solo competitors.
Eric was also a talented tile setter, stone mason, and gifted welder/fabricator. He joined the City of Prescott in 2003 as part of the fuels management crew and worked to build a city-sponsored wildland team. He was an instrumental part of the Granite Mountain Hot Shots organization.
He helped start the Arizona Wildfire Academy (from his living room), where he taught basic firefighting, squad boss, and leadership classes. He liked to say that working on the crew “turned boys into men.” He was so well known for his quotes and sayings that his crew wrote down his “Eric-isms.”
Eric’s wife, Amanda, and his parents, John and Jane, want Eric remembered as a compassionate, good-hearted, loyal, and generous man of integrity who loved his family, his life, and being a Granite Mountain Hot Shot.
"Wait on, Brother Jody, wait on and live on; yes, live on for that glorious roll call, when you, your beloved family, and we, your brother in Pi Lambda Phi shall all assemble and answer 'present' to the Voice of the Everlasting."
