Updated at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, July 30, 2026.
U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper says the public needs answers about what decisions preceded the deaths of four wildland firefighters more than a month ago.
“These families deserve answers, and we need to understand what went wrong so we can prevent future tragedies,” Hickenlooper said.
Wildland firefighters Emily Barker, Nicholas Hutcherson and Sydney Watson were killed June 27 while responding to the Knowles fire, later renamed the Snyder fire, in a remote part of Mesa County. Nathan Matthews and a fifth firefighter were injured that same day. Matthews died July 24.
Hours after Hickenlooper’s appearance on the Senate Floor, the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center issued a new report from the Serious Accident Investigation Team. The report, which is still listed as preliminary, revealed new details on the burnover in which the five firefighters were overtaken.
According to the new information, the helitack team was deployed to attack the Knowles fire at 9:36 a.m. A few hours later, a new fire near their location “began exhibiting extreme fire behavior.” That fire was fueled by extreme conditions including winds that were 30-50+ miles per hour with “terrain-enhanced effects.”
The winds kept the smoke from the fires at ground level, making it impossible for a helicopter to land to pick up the crew. According to the report, the crew members asked about a helicopter pickup at 2:56 p.m. Two minutes later, the crew noted fire near their location. Ten minutes after that report, at 3:08 p.m., a helicopter was reported en route to pick them up. At 3:19 p.m., the helitack members on the ground deployed fire shelters as the helicopter was unable to land to pick them up.
The report notes that the investigation is ongoing, and no information about decision making is included in the preliminary findings.
Thus far, the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center has produced a 24-hour and 72-hour report, which provide basic details of what happened, including an 82-word narrative of the day’s events. A Wildland Fire Serious Accident Investigation Team is investigating. Hickenlooper said that investigation needs to be completed quickly in order to inform decisions through the rest of the fire season.
“This isn’t about playing politics or gotcha, trying to find blame. With wildfires still raging across Colorado, we can’t afford to wait months and months to learn lessons that could save lives right now,” Hickenlooper said.
Wildland firefighting has undergone recent changes, including centralizing efforts under the U.S. Wildland Fire Service. Earlier this spring, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued a memo advocating for a full suppression strategy on wildfires. Hickenlooper alluded to those changes in his comments Thursday.
“That’s why I’m calling on the Department of the Interior to conduct a swift and thorough investigation into what happened, including whether the administration’s recent shifts to the Wildland Fire Service played any role in this event,” Hickenlooper said.
The canyon country where the four firefighters were killed is in a rugged part of Mesa County near the Utah border. On the day they died, wind speeds were in excess of 30 miles an hour, according to the National Weather Service. A red flag warning, which alerts the public to high fire risk, was in effect.
The Mesa County deaths marked the first fatal fire of the season in Colorado. A helicopter pilot was also killed weeks later battling the Gold Mountain fire near Ouray. Nicholas Dale of British Columbia, Canada, died when his helicopter crashed into Silver Jack Reservoir. The helicopter has since been recovered and was transported to Greeley for investigation.
A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board is expected around 30 days after the crash.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include new information from the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center’s preliminary report from the Serious Accident Investigation Team.
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