The identities of three firefighters who were killed while responding to the Knowles Fire in western Mesa County on Saturday were released Monday morning. Two of the deceased were assigned to the Rifle Helitack crew and all three were part of the initial response to the fire, according to the Department of the Interior.<\/p>\n
Firefighters Emily Barker, 38, of Clinton Township, Michigan; Nick Hutcherson, 27, of Glendale, Arizona; and Sydney Watson, 27, of Warrior, Alabama, all perished during a burn-over incident on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe mourn the loss of three firefighters who answered the call to protect others and made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their fellow citizens,\u201d U.S. Wildland Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy said in a statement. \u201cOur thoughts are with their families, loved ones, friends and crewmates as they face an unimaginable loss. These firefighters embodied the courage, professionalism and selflessness that define the wildland fire service. Please join me and my family in keeping our thoughts and prayers with the families of the fallen and our injured firefighters and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barker and Watson were assigned to the Rifle Helitack crew. Hutcherson was assigned to the U.S. Forest Service Kaibab National Forest from Arizona.<\/p>\n
Two additional firefighters were injured during the incident and are receiving medical care, according to the Department of the Interior.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an incredibly difficult moment for the entire wildland fire community,\u201d Forest Service Deputy Chief Sarah Fisher said in a statement. \u201cOur heavy hearts are with the families during this unimaginable time. We recognize the tremendous impact this loss has on them and are deeply grateful for the devotion their loved ones brought to our organizations. We will honor their memory with compassion and support as their selfless service and commitment create an enduring legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the weekend, the Snyder Fire merged with the Jones Fire near the Utah border and subsequently overtook the Knowles and Gore fires, according to the Department of the Interior. The fire, now known as the Snyder Fire, is currently estimated at over 28,000 acres along the Colorado-Utah border.<\/p>\n
An interagency complex incident management team assumed command of the Snyder Fire on Sunday.<\/p>\n
A serious accident investigation team is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident that resulted in these firefighters\u2019 deaths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The identities of three firefighters who were killed while responding to the Knowles Fire in western Mesa County…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,111386,33240,10070,45004,129568,26890,451,3,90966,4752,1903,2785,452,453,183229,6322,6399],"class_list":["post-733138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-combustion","tag-emergency-services","tag-fire","tag-firefighter","tag-firefighting","tag-hazards","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-occupational-safety-and-health","tag-public-safety","tag-public-services","tag-safety","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-united-states-forest-service","tag-wildfire","tag-wildfires"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}