Rifle Helitack Team Member Nate Matthews Honored at Grand Junction Memorial

Nate Matthews, the fifth Colorado wildland firefighter to die this year, was honored at Grand Junction’s Avalon Theater, where family and colleagues remembered the Rifle Helitack Team member after his June injuries.

Grand Junction —Nathan “Nate” Matthews died July 24, becoming the fifth wildland firefighter to perish in Colorado this year. His ashes were displayed Saturday inside a glass box on the stage at Grand Junction’s Avalon Theater, surrounded by family and colleagues who remembered him as a “bad ass” and a reliable worker.

The memorial service highlighted the growing dangers of a profession that is shifting from seasonal work to year-round labor. U.S. Wildland Fire Service Director Brian Fennessy called Matthews “bad ass” during the ceremony, noting that conditions in western Colorado are increasingly hot and dry.

Matthews, 43, was from Lincoln, Nebraska, but fought fires for the Rifle Helitack Team. He had been battling his own injuries in a Denver burn unit for nearly a month after being dropped into the Knowles and Gore fires on June 27.

To hear fellow team member Megan Spencer tell it, Matthews was a creative spirit on the fire lines. She described him as a lover of fresh-brewed coffee and “bubbly water,” someone who made creative mocktails for fire camp. But on that June day, the weather turned hostile.

Winds whipped at 30 to 50 mph while western Colorado baked in what officials called “virtual air fryer mode.” Two new fires, the Knowles and Gore fires, flared east of two large Utah fires that had merged. The combined smoke darkened the Western Slope skies.

The Wildland Fire Service and the U.S. Forest Service issued a preliminary report Friday, outlining the sequence of events that led to the tragedy.

Five firefighters were dropped by helicopter into a remote area shortly before noon. Satellite imagery showed another lightning-caused ignition blowing up nearby. Just before 3 p.m., the crew signaled for pickup. A helicopter lifted off from Grand Junction firefighting headquarters within 10 minutes, reaching the crew in five minutes.

The smoke was so thick the helicopter could not land. The firefighters deployed their shelters — fireproof pup tents that serve as last-resort gear. The flames roared over the tops of them.

Nick Hutcherson, Emily Barker, and Sydney Watson died where they huddled in their shelters. Matthews and a fifth unnamed firefighter were injured and airlifted out.

Matthews’ twin brother, Nick Matthews, sat among the 13 family members in the front row. Brian Fennessy handed a folded flag to Nate’s mother during the service, pausing quietly to speak with her.

The question is whether this cluster of deaths represents a statistical anomaly or the new normal for wildland firefighting. National fire managers acknowledged during the service that the profession is stretching to year-round work as fires grow larger and more frequent.

Matthews had 11 years of experience fighting wildland fires. He was known as a trickster and an outdoorsman to his core. His death adds to the tally of Colorado’s wildland firefighting losses this year, underscoring the risks faced by crews like the Rifle Helitack Team.

As for what comes next, the community is left to process the loss of a local hero who was just one of many fighting fires across the state.

“Nate was reliable, kind, and tough,” Megan Spencer said. “He knew how to handle the heat.”