(Photo by Stina Sieg - KJZZ)

A makeshift memorial in 2013 dedicated to the 19 Arizona firefighters who died in the Yarnell Hill Fire.

Flags across Arizona are flying at half-staff in honor of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, Thursday marks three years since 19 members of the elite fire-fighting team were killed battling the Yarnell Hill Fire.

KJZZ reporter Laurel Morales covered the fire and its aftermath. She remembers the phone call that came just as she put her kids to bed and set her on the hardest assignment she's ever had to cover.