GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (MSI) — The three wildland firefighters killed Saturday while battling the Knowles and Gore fires along the Colorado-Utah border were members of a Helitack crew — a specialized unit that helicopters into remote terrain to contain new or rapidly escalating blazes — the U.S. Forest Service said Monday.
The agency identified the deceased as Emily Barker, 38, of Clinton Township, Michigan; Nick Hutcherson, 27, of Glendale, Arizona; and Sydney Watson, 26, of Warrior, Alabama.
According to federal officials, the three firefighters were overtaken by flames while attempting to deploy fire shelters — tent-like, heat-reflective structures that serve as a last-resort protective measure when escape routes are cut off.
Their deaths occurred nearly 13 years to the day after 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots died in the 2013 Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona. In that incident, investigators found that the hotshots had also deployed emergency shelters but were overcome. An investigation into the Yarnell fire did not assign blame, but cited radio communication problems that contributed to the crew becoming trapped. Arizona’s workplace safety commission fined the state’s forestry division for failing to pull the crew out.
MSI previously reported that three firefighters were killed and two injured on Saturday while responding to the Knowles and Gore fires three wildland firefighters die in Colorado-Utah border blazes.
The deaths come amid an intense wildfire season across the Western U.S., fueled by extreme heat, severe drought, and high winds. As of last week, the Cottonwood fire in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest had burned more than 92,000 acres and remained uncontained, making it the largest active wildfire in the state’s history. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox declared a state of emergency and banned personal fireworks statewide through July 5, citing what he described as the worst wildfire conditions in living memory.