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Updated at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, July 30, 2026 . 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.
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According to the new information, the helitack team was deployed to attack the Knowles fire at 9:36 a.m. 1 dead — Sydney Watson 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.
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