4th firefighter dies from burn injuries in western Colorado blaze
A serious accident investigation continues as officials say the burnover killed four firefighters and injured a fifth during initial attack operations.
- On Friday, July 24, Rifle Helitack crew member Nathan Matthews, 43, died from burn injuries sustained while fighting the Knowles Fire in western Colorado. Matthews had been receiving medical care since the June 27 burnover incident.
- Five members of the Rifle Helitack crew were trapped by a burnover on June 27 during initial attack operations on the Knowles Fire. Three firefighters—Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson, and Sydney Watson—died at the scene after deploying emergency shelters.
- "This is another heartbreaking loss for our wildland fire family," U.S. Wildland Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy said. The burnover is the deadliest wildland firefighting incident since 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots died in the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona.
- A serious accident investigation team continues to review the incident circumstances. The Knowles Fire merged with other blazes to form the Snyder Fire, which burned 30,202 acres across Utah and Colorado and is fully contained.
- Matthews is the fifth firefighter to die in Colorado this year while battling wildfires. Officials have not provided an update on the condition of the fifth crew member injured during the June 27 burnover.
120 Articles
120 Articles
Fourth firefighter dies from injuries in Colorado Knowles Fire burnover
A fourth firefighter died after battling the Knowles Fire in western Colorado earlier this month, the Department of the Interior said Friday. The firefighter, Nathan Matthews, 43, of the Wildland Fire Service in Lincoln, Nebraska, was one of five who were involved in a “burnover incident” on June 27. A burnover is when a fire moves so quickly through a location that it overtakes personnel and equipment to the point there’s no way to use escape r…
40-square-mile fire burns just north of Sisters, Ore.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — As dry, windy weather fueled a big wildfire near a city in Central Oregon, a fourth firefighter died after he and several colleagues last month were overcome by a fast-moving wildfire near the Colorado-Utah border, authorities said Saturday.
Fourth firefighter dies from injuries sustained during June wildfire in Colorado
MESA COUNTY, Colo., July 25, 2026 (Gephardt Daily) — On Friday, wildland firefighter Nathan Matthews, 43, of the Wildland Fire Service, of Lincoln, Nebraska, died from injuries sustained while responding to the Knowles Fire, in western Colorado and part of eastern Utah, on June 27. Matthews was assigned to the Rifle Helitack crew and was one of five firefighters involved in a burnover while engaged in initial attack operations on the Knowles Fi…
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