INVESTIGATIONS

100 Club of Arizona questions its own spending on Granite Mountain Hotshots' families

The board of the 100 Club of Arizona, which collected $4.6 million for families of 19 firefighters who died at Yarnell Hill, raised concerns about the executive director's spending and management decisions, according to its president.

Robert Anglen
The Republic | azcentral.com
The Yarnell Hill Fire in 2013 claimed the lives of 19 firefighters known as the Granite Mountain Hotshots.

When 19 firefighters died in a wildfire on Yarnell Hill, people across Arizona pledged to give whatever they could to help. Within days of the 2013 tragedy, donations poured in from all over the world — and continued coming for months.

Supermarkets placed donation jars at cash registers. There were car washes, car rallies, barbecues and bake sales. A country superstar put on a benefit concert. Banks and credit unions set up accounts earmarked for the hotshots.

One of the key organizations responsible for managing those donations now questions how some of the money was used, with hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on sightseeing trips, high-end restaurants and hotels for hotshots' families.

The 100 Club of Arizona collected $4.6 million for families of 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots. The non-profit's board president said some spending decisions could damage the public's opinion of the organization, which has been providing financial support to families of police officers and firefighters killed or injured in the line of duty since 1968.

FULL COVERAGE: Yarnell Hill Fire and Granite Mountain Hotshots

An Arizona Republic investigation found concerns over spending and management decisions — including the termination of a bookkeeper who first raised questions about expenses — led to an internal audit and the resignation of Sharon Knutson-Felix, the 100 Club's longtime executive director.

"There were a series of management decisions made by Sharon that looked and felt improper," 100 Club board President Stephen Horrell Jr. said. "(The issues) are going to start and stop with Sharon and the board's reaction to what we need to do so it will never, ever happen again."

Horrell's comments come after 100 Club officials tried for months to keep financial controversies and internal upheaval from becoming public. They made a severance offer and sought a non-disclosure agreement with Knutson-Felix, which she rejected, and reached a confidential agreement with at least one other employee.

In February, 100 Club officials publicly announced Knutson-Felix was retiring after 14 years. Horrell and others praised her in statements as a "tireless leader" and described her as the "heart and soul" of the organization.

Knutson-Felix said in interviews that she did nothing wrong and maintained that board members approved every expense. Financial decisions were based on the individual needs of survivors, including relatives of the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots, she said.

"I loved, loved, loved the 100 Club. I was there 14 years and felt it was my calling," Knutson-Felix said. "I just hope, I pray, that whatever happens, nothing is done to hurt the families (of police and firefighters). I have nothing to hide."

The Republic investigation found Knutson-Felix authorized purchases that later were questioned by the non-profit's board, including trips for the families of hotshots and, separately, $50,000 to install an outdoor kitchen and barbecue for the partner of a police officer who died on the job.

She routinely used the organization's American Express card to buy personal items, the cost of which she later reimbursed, and exerted influence in a scholarship selection process that was supposed to be independent, 100 Club officials said.

The expenditures and other issues created turmoil and led to changes at the 100 Club, which said that this year it implemented new safeguards and financial controls — regular reports to the board and requiring more than one signature on checks — to limit the power of the executive director and to prevent any perception of misspending.

Roberts:  Sorry, no outrage here over trips for hotshot families
Montini100 Club must be 100 percent transparent to restore trust

The Republic pieced together a partial list of 100 Club spending for hotshot families from financial records and interviews.

The non-profit spent more than $203,000 to send some relatives of the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots on two all-expense paid trips to New York City to see the 9/11 memorial and other sights and another to Montana for a fly-fishing retreat. The 100 Club also purchased a wedding dress and burial plots for relatives of the hotshots, among other items.

The itemized expenses represent an estimated 6 percent of the $4.6 million donations from individuals, businesses and community organizations after the Yarnell Hill Fire. No detailed accounting is publicly available for the other $4.3 million.

Although 100 Club officials confirmed all expenses reported by The Republic, they were unwilling to provide a line-item accounting of expenditures for hotshot families, saying financial disclosure laws do not require them to report how money donated from the public was spent.

Several board members, including the treasurer, did not return calls for comment and directed questions to Horrell, who speaks for the board. The board includes Arizona lawyers, insurance agents, business owners, a retired Phoenix firefighter and Phoenix police lieutenant.

The families did nothing wrong in accepting the donations. But the ways in which some of the money was spent raised questions about whether it could have been spent more wisely, and whether the non-profit's board was properly vetting those decisions.

A charity watchdog says what happened to the 100 Club could happen to any organization inundated with donations that doesn't have specific, detailed plans in place for spending.

A leading charity monitor who tracks non-profit expenses said the 100 Club appeared overwhelmed by the donations and could have sought ways to use the money somewhere else, for some other cause.

"The public subsidized these vacations," said Daniel Borochoff, founder of CharityWatch in Chicago. "Hopefully in the future it will have better internal controls and a clear-cut plan about how to spend donations."

Millions of dollars with no instructions

The deaths of the Granite Mountain Hotshots on June 30, 2013, marked the deadliest incident involving U.S. firefighters since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Records show it was the sixth-largest loss of life for firefighters in U.S. history.

MORE: What really happened to the Yarnell 19 | What became of the Granite Mountain Hotshots

The hotshots were fighting a wildfire sparked by lightning in the hills west of Yarnell. The team assembled in a burned-out "safe zone" and later hiked down a ravine, where they were met by their supervisor.

Winds whipped by a thunderstorm pushed flames toward their position. The 19 men deployed fire shelters but they did not survive the firestorm. A 20th member of the crew serving as a spotter was in another location and became the team's lone survivor.

The flood of donations to assist firefighters' families were funneled primarily through two non-profits.

The biggest of those was a joint effort by the United Phoenix Firefighters Association and Prescott Firefighter’s Charities, which collected about $8.5 million for families of the hotshots and in early 2014 divided up the money and distributed it to them.

RELATED: Hotshots' families haven't seen money raised in their name by non-profit

The 100 Club was the other.

"That was something that this organization had never, ever had happen," Horrell said. "Literally, money was coming into our offices from all over the country. And with these checks were absolutely no instructions. ... What do you do with it? Take care of the families. Well, that's pretty open-ended."

Tax records show the money rolling in more than quadrupled 100 Club revenues in one year. In 2012, the non-profit received $1.5 million in contributions and donated $909,000. In 2013, it received $6.8 million and donated about $3.3 million.

"These were monies that were coming in for the families, and we were very cognizant of why these checks were being written, from little kids to some of the big boys in this town," Horrell said, adding that helping the families after the disaster was the biggest-ever challenge the organization had faced.

MORE: Yarnell charitable donations mostly distributed

The 100 Club stopped accepting donations earmarked for the hotshots' families in 2014. Horrell said the board was aware the large influx of money "could possibly change the 100 Club" and took steps so that donations were distributed, not parked in the organization's bank account.

The board committed to making sure every dime donated to the families would be spent on them within three years, Horrell said. It established a separate fund for the hotshots and gave Knutson-Felix blanket authority to spend the money on their financial needs.

A system was established to track money coming in and going out, family by family. But it wasn't until after hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent did board members start questioning whether some of the purchases — including the trips — represented a genuine need for the families.

"That was, to me, not a need," Horrell said. "Where else could we have spent that money? Good question. I don't know."

High-profile survivor led non-profit for years

Knutson-Felix was the face of the 100 Club in Arizona over the past decade. She became a household name among law-enforcement officers, firefighters and their families.

She served as an informal grief counselor, friend and benefactor to survivors, showing up on their doorsteps within hours of tragedies to offer reassurance, assistance and checks.

Knutson-Felix knew what survivors were going through from bitter first-hand experiences. She learned about the 100 Club when representatives showed up on her door the day after her husband, Department of Public Safety Officer Doug Knutson, was killed on the job in 1998.

Sharon Knutson-Felix.

She channeled her grief into volunteer work and became the president of the Arizona chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors, a non-profit that provides counseling assistance to the families of officers killed in the line of duty.

In 2001, Knutson-Felix traveled to New York and spent weeks volunteering at Ground Zero. Afterward she was asked to take over operations of the 100 Club of Arizona. She said it was the first time the survivor of a fallen officer was given a chance to run the organization.

Knutson-Felix is credited with growing the 100 Club's public profile, expanding its programs and raising to $15,000 the cash benefit the organization provides to families of first responders killed in the line of duty. She made it a statewide organization and doubled membership in little more than a year.

She helped grow the organization's annual budget from $200,000 in 2002 to $1.5 million in 2012, the year before the Yarnell tragedy.

"I can tell you I've always served with my whole heart and with the utmost integrity," she said.

"I don’t understand the agenda at work here from a handful of people who have suddenly said things about me that are simply not true."

100 Club officials say her length of service, her attachment to the organization and her sense of autonomy likely led her to make financial and management decisions without sufficient regard to consequences.

Horrell said Knutson-Felix did a "super-good job" for 14 years, making critical connections with police officers, firefighters and their families.

"We have an audit team and a treasurer, and they became aware of some things that were not happening the right way," Horrell said. "So we questioned (Knutson-Felix). And I'm just going to say, loosely, it didn't go well."

Little disclosure of expenditures required

Donors to the 100 Club might think all the money they give goes for the immediate needs of families of police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty.

But the non-profit also provides scholarships to survivors, grants to departments for equipment that it can't buy on its own, and pays financial needs — bills, mortgages, medical expenses — for families of first responders who become ill or who die while not on duty. It also has a fund to help offset mental-health expenses.

The 100 Club of Arizona has received high marks from groups that track charity organizations, primarily based on ratios of expenses to revenue. Charity Navigator, for instance, gives the 100 Club four stars out of four, saying 91 percent of revenues go to programs.

The most recently available tax records show that in 2014, the 100 Club had $2,528,095 in revenues and paid out $3,536,220 in benefits, the bulk of which went to families of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.

In 2014, it spent roughly 21 percent of its revenues, $543,723, on employee salaries and benefits, including $114,695 for Knutson-Felix.

Scant information is available publicly about the money the Arizona 100 Club gives to survivors. The Form 990s non-profits are required to fill out annually for the Internal Revenue Service do not require individual itemization of recipients, only the type of benefit and the number of people who received them.

The 100 Club tax returns account for money spent on hotshot survivors in a single line: "Benefits to survivors." Its audited financial statements read much the same way, boiling down benefits to a line item called "Granite Mountain Hotshots Families Assistance."

In response to a request, 100 Club officials provided The Republic the first breakdown of how donations for the Granite Mountain Hotshots' families were spent. The 100 Club reported collecting $4.64 million from June 30, 2013, to May 31, 2016. It has disbursed all but $26,000.

The breakdown is presented in broad categories. 100 Club officials have characterized the bulk of the expenses as appropriate.

Expenditures, according to the 100 Club, included:

  • $2.73 million for family financial needs, including assistance for items such as mortgage and rent, car payments and household bills. 
  • $583,000 for families to travel to funeral ceremonies, including airfare and other costs associated with flying relatives across the country for funerals.
  • $456,000 for memorials. The 100 Club helped pay expenses for various memorials to the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
  • $322,000 for family medical needs.
  • $320,000 for the line-of-duty death fund. This includes payments of $15,000 to families of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, which is part of the 100 Club's key mission. The 100 Club declined to be more specific on death-benefit expenditures.
  • $132,000 for the New York trips for mothers, spouses and girlfriends of survivors.
  • $71,000 for the fishing trip for brothers and fathers of the hotshots.

Survivors' trips to New York, Montana

The six-day New York trips were billed as a healing time, a chance for survivors to bond while enjoying a once-in a-lifetime experience.

Horrell said the board learned of the trips after they were planned, and that it didn't approve of the expenditures in advance.

There were two New York trips, one for the wives and girlfriends of the Yarnell 19 and another for mothers. Both trips were built around an escorted tour of the 9/11 memorial by members of the New York City Fire Department.

MORE: Holding on to what was theirs: A Granite Mountain Hotshot widow's story

The site of the former World Trade Center complex, where 343 firefighters and paramedics died on Sept. 11, is considered hallowed ground in the firefighting community.

The 100 Club also paid for tickets for survivors to see the Broadway play "Wicked," the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall and the New York City Ballet. Some took city tours and visited landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

The survivors stayed at the Westin New York at Times Square, which offers rooms starting at $250 a night. They ate at Manhattan eateries such as Butter, where Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli serves as executive chef, and Porter House, a famed steakhouse in the Time Warner Center overlooking Columbus Circle and Central Park.

Each traveler was given a $1,000 spending allowance for souvenirs and keepsakes, 100 Club officials confirmed.

The 100 Club also paid $71,000 to send fathers and brothers of the Yarnell 19 on a fly-fishing outing to Montana.

"What a healing time. What a wonderful experience," Knutson-Felix said, adding that the vacations were "better than counseling."

She said the trips were planned at the request of survivors and the money used for them came from the donated funds.

RELATED: For hotshots' families, a cruise is just right for season

Angela Harrolle, who took over as 100 Club executive director in February, served as a volunteer ambassador on one of the New York trips and said it provided a lot of therapy for the survivors.

Harrolle said she was not working for the 100 Club at the time the trips were planned and was not involved in the approval process.

"I don't believe, myself, that it was luxurious," she said. "Yes, it was an incredible opportunity for them, but I believe there was a lot of therapy that they received just having that opportunity to be together during difficult times."

Non-profit's board expressed concern over expenditures

Stephen B. Horrell, Jr., board president for the 100 Club of Arizona, left, and Angela Harrolle, 100 Club executive director, are interviewed in Phoenix, Friday, July 22, 2016.

The 100 Club spent thousands more on purchases for survivors of the Granite Mountain Hotshots that board members later called into question, including: Knutson-Felix agreed to buy back a $1,000 wedding dress from the fiancee of one of the firefighters. She also bought an unspecified number of burial plots for relatives of the Yarnell 19 and a used truck for Brendan McDonough, the team's lone survivor.

Both Horrell and Harrolle (no relation) acknowledged that board members expressed concerns over these expenditures. But they said an argument could be made that purchases for surviving family members filled their personal needs.

They specifically pointed to McDonough's truck, saying his old one was barely operational, with more than 200,000 miles. In his case, his most pressing need was a reliable vehicle. They said Knutson-Felix made the call.

"I'm not going to tell you ... whether it was a real need or not at that particular time. I don't know," Horrell said.

RELATED: Yarnell 'lone survivor': 'The roar of the fire was huffing behind me'

100 Club spending on items unrelated to the hotshots also were scrutinized.

Horrell said he could not defend the need for the $50,000 outdoor kitchen for the deceased police officer's partner. "I'm struggling with that," he said, adding that it was not brought to the board in writing and it was discussed only in generalities and without a price tag.

Knutson-Felix said the barbecue was a way "to create an experience" for someone who had gone through a terrible trauma. She said it was a way to minister to a particular individual and to provide something significant for that person to remember a loved one.

"First of all, all of that was approved by the board," she said. "It was taking care of a family with a need. You are oversimplifying the barbecue. ... It could be lots of things that bring healing."

Knutson-Felix said grief and needs manifest in unusual ways. She said for some people it can be travel, going on a trip that they never got to take, or returning to a special place. In others it can be as mundane as a new appliance.

After her husband was killed, Knutson-Felix said the 100 Club bought her a matching washer and dryer, the first set she ever owned. Every time she did laundry, she was reminded that others were thinking of her and her loss.

"Every time I went to do laundry, it was like getting a huge hug," she said.

Bookkeeper's firing triggers an audit

It wasn't until after Knutson-Felix fired the 100 Club's longtime bookkeeper in 2015 that the 100 Club board grew concerned about purchases it didn't approve and other management decisions.

The bookkeeper, Patti Ballentine, raised questions about purchases, issues surrounding grants and scholarships for survivors, and the use of the 100 Club American Express card. When Ballentine confronted Knutson-Felix, Ballentine's job was eliminated, Horrell said.

Knutson-Felix told the board the bookkeeper's position no longer was needed. Ballentine's lawyer told the board another story in a lengthy letter detailing potential problems.

Horrell described the letter as a wake-up call.

"He (the lawyer) wrote us quite a letter," Horrell said. "Several things in this letter didn't make our board real happy, because there were several things in this letter he was asking questions about that we didn't have answers (for)."

Ballentine did not respond to interview requests. Her lawyer, Andrew Pacheco, said neither he nor his client could discuss the case because of a confidentiality agreement.

Horrell said the letter prompted the board to put Knutson-Felix on administrative leave and bring in an outside auditor to review 100 Club finances and operations in 2013 and 2014. The board also hired Harrolle to lead the agency in the interim as chief operating officer.

Ballentine was reinstated almost immediately and is still employed as the 100 Club's bookkeeper.

Horrell said the audit determined no money was missing, and no criminal conduct was suspected. He said all of the funds collected for families of the firefighters were distributed to them.

The auditor found management problems that could be attributed to Knutson-Felix's length of service and her reputation as a fierce advocate for first responders, club officials said.

Horrell did not provide a copy of the audit to The Republic.

Knutson-Felix said she never was given a chance to review the audit, although typically such documents are presented to an organization's management team.

"Because that never happened, the audit process was incomplete," Knutson-Felix said.

She would not discuss Ballentine's firing, calling it a personnel matter.

"I followed protocol and I followed the policies as I understood them," she said.

One of the audit's findings involved Knutson-Felix's personal use of the 100 Club American Express card, which was issued in her name. Although Knutson-Felix regularly reimbursed the 100 Club for her expenses, records showed in 2014 she missed reimbursing the organization before the bill's due date and the organization was forced to cover the amount due. The advance was reported on tax forms as a short-term $1,500 loan to Knutson-Felix, officials said.

The audit also questioned Knutson-Felix's use of 100 Club bonus miles, or reward points issued by American Express. Those points are often used by the 100 Club to buy airfare for families of fallen firefighters and law-enforcement officers to attend funerals. Horrell said board members had a lot of questions about whether Knutson-Felix took advantage of the bonus miles.

Knutson-Felix said in interviews that she did not misuse the reward points.

Spouses, children and grandchildren of active, retired or deceased Arizona public-safety officers and firefighters are eligible to apply for scholarships through the 100 Club. Applications are supposed to be reviewed by an independent examiner to determine eligibility.

The audit examined the 100 Club's methods for awarding scholarships and determined that Knutson-Felix likely exerted too much influence over the independent decision maker, Horrell said. The organization awarded $348,697 in scholarships to 105 recipients in 2014, records show.

"I never exerted any improper influence over the scholarship process," Knutson-Felix said.

Horrell disagreed but stopped short of saying her involvement led to improper rewards.

"The part about it being independent, kind of lost its independence," Horrell said. "Now, I can't tell you that anybody got a scholarship specifically from our organization that didn't deserve it."

Horrell said after reviewing the results of the audit, the board made her return to work conditional. She could have her old job back if she agreed to follow new rules.

"We gave her some good options," Horrell said. "We pretty much decided whatever we offered her, it wasn't going to work."

Severence and non-disclosure agreements

The 100 Club took many steps to prevent the public from learning about its financial and management problems, officials confirmed.

Only the 100 Club lawyer had a copy of the audit, and board members were asked to review it in his office. Copies weren't distributed.

The board offered Knutson-Felix a severance package as long as she would sign a non-disclosure agreement. She confirmed the offer and said she refused to accept it. Instead, she sent a letter of resignation.

READ:  Knutson-Felix's letter of resignation

"They didn't want me to talk about where resources went," she said.

At least one other employee was asked to sign a confidentiality agreement.

In interviews, Knutson-Felix said she could have stayed with the 100 Club, but the board wanted to go in a different direction. After heading the agency for 14 years, she said it was time for her to look after herself.

In her resignation letter, Knutson-Felix told the board it was an honor to serve.

“I leave with a full heart. I am looking forward to the next challenge God has in store for me," she wrote. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to represent the 100 Club during some of its most rewarding and challenging days.”

In February, the 100 Club issued a statement praising Knutson-Felix for building its membership, donor base and for increasing the amount of assistance for families of firefighters and police officers.

"Sharon led the 100 Club during its time of greatest challenge and triumph in responding to the Yarnell Hill tragedy," the statement said.

Horrell said the 100 Club depends on public donations for its survival. He said board members were afraid news of problems could damage the organization's credibility.

Horrell, who took over as president in the summer of 2015 for a two-year term, said the board wanted to make sure the 100 Club's reputation remained solid.

Questions over spending at Tucson non-profit

Knutson-Felix left a previous job at Concerns of Police Survivors, one official there said, at a time when there were concerns over spending at the organization.

Jan Blaser-Upchurch, past president of Arizona C.O.P.S. and a former member of the organization's national board, said Knutson-Felix spent the organization's limited funds on national causes in ways that did not benefit the organization.

Knutson-Felix said any allegation that she left under a cloud was "crazy," "inaccurate" and "untrue." She declined to discuss specifics.

"C.O.P.S had challenges with her," Blaser-Upchurch said in a June interview. "Challenges in the ways she used funds."

She said in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2011, terrorist attacks, Knutson-Felix spent C.O.P.S.money on donations to several national organizations affiliated with recovery efforts.

"It got her to a place where she got a lot of notoriety," Blaser-Upchurch said.

Blaser-Upchurch acknowledged she was not on the C.O.P.S. board at the time Knutson-Felix presided over it but said one of the reasons she became involved was because of concerns about how the organization was spending money.

Blaser-Upchurch, who received 100 Club survivor benefits after her husband, an Arizona DPS officer, was hit and killed by a drunk driver while investigating a crash, said she always will be grateful to the organization.

But she said her experiences with C.O.P.S. have made her critical of the 100 Club's primary goal of providing money to survivors' families. She said survivors need lifetime emotional support.

"Who is going to help them when the money is gone?" she said. "Continuing to throw money at people doesn't ease their pain, doesn't help them to work through (grief). It is temporary assistance."

Blaser-Upchurch said C.O.P.S. takes a different approach, providing lifetime therapy and support for survivors. The organization is staffed by volunteers, does minimal fundraising and has a low-key approach. She said C.O.P.S. members don't usually reach out to survivors until after the memorial services have ended and "everyone else" has gone home.

Blaser-Upchurch said much of C.O.P.S.' programs revolve around annual retreats for co-workers, spouses, children, parents and siblings of fallen officers. More than 300 Arizona families are counted as members.

"Our role is not be out front," Blaser-Upchurch said. "We can continue to work with survivors for the rest of their lives."

Lessons to be learned

Should the 100 Club have created a definite plan for the donations, with specific goals to help families of the hotshots?

Borochoff, founder of CharityWatch in Chicago, who has testified before Congress about charities related to Sept. 11 and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said yes.

Once those goals were met, he said, the organization should have turned down donations earlier or sought legal help from state authorities to earmark money for different causes. Instead, several million dollars went to the same group of families.

The trips to New York might have been well-intended but indicate the organization had money it didn't really know how to spend, Borochoff said.

"That's one of the problems with donors giving out of emotions, rather than giving out of actual needs," he said. "There are a lot of victims in this world who are forgotten, who don't get anything."

He said the organization needs to have guidelines for "what is an appropriate gift or service." He said rather than trips, the money could have been put in trusts or used to establish educational and other funds for survivors.

"The board was asleep to allow something like this to happen," he said, adding that members could have reached out to donors and explained that so many donations were received they wanted to spend it on another class of victims.

"It is a shame that the money was not better spent than it was," Borochoff said. "The money spent on these trips won't be available to other victims who were part of a tragedy that wasn't highly publicized."

He also criticized the board for giving the executive director too much autonomy.

"They should not allow one person to call the shots," Borochoff said. "They are opening themselves up to accusations and perceptions (of misspending)."

100 Club officials said they have recently reviewed procedures and enacted a host of new financial and management controls aimed at limiting the power of the executive director.

Among those are spending limits that require two signatures on any check for more than $1,500. A benefit committee has been established to meet every 30 days and review benefit requests and payments to survivors.

Stricter rules are in place over the 100 Club credit card so funds and reward points will not get commingled with personal purchases.

The 100 Club staff now gives biweekly written updates to the board about activities, issues and benefits. A new process has also been created for reviewing grant requests from police and fire departments across Arizona.

The 100 Club also has hired an outside consultant to review, analyze and make recommendations on scholarship applicants to remove any undue influence.

Horrell said the board is committed to restoring confidence and continuing its record of helping people and departments.

Horrell said Knutson-Felix may have had her heart in the right place, but heard what she wanted to hear and sometimes acted without consideration of consequences.

"That might be Mr. Horrell’s opinion, and he’s certainly entitled to it, but that was never my management style. I was confident in my job and in the experience I had developed over many years as a leader," Knutson-Felix said.

"I never disregarded anyone’s input and I was never a selective listener," she said.

"She was a very poor listener," Horrell said. "You've heard the term: Ask forgiveness, not permission."

New photos show Granite Mountain Hotshots memorial

3 years after tragedy, town pauses to honor hotshots