With wildfires burning across many Western states, wildland firefighters gathered Sunday to pay tribute to three of their own who died after they were trapped by flames a week ago.
Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson were remembered for being courageous public servants who left a lasting impact on the communities where they worked.
“They showed up to make order out of chaos day after day with purpose, dedication and heart,” U.S. Wildland
Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy said during a memorial service in Grand Junction, Colorado, near where the firefighters died while battling flames on the Colorado-Utah border.
While that fire is now almost entirely contained, nearly 40 large fires are still going strong across the West. Most of the current fires are scattered around Colorado, Utah and New Mexico while there are wildfires in eight other states — from Alaska to Arizona.
Over the holiday weekend, more evacuations in Colorado were ordered across four counties where the Aspen Acres fire had burned about 136 square miles (352 square kilometers) south of Colorado Springs.
The fire had damaged or destroyed more than 200 structures as of Sunday, authorities said. National Guard soldiers were sent in Friday to help with staffing checkpoints on roads near the fire zone.
Months of dry weather and a record lack of snow this past winter in some places along with erratic winds have been fueling the fires.
The three firefighters killed on June 27 in western Colorado were members of a Helitack crew that sometimes drops into remote areas by helicopters.
Barker, Hutcherson and Watson and two others who sustained burn injuries were overcome by flames from fast-moving fires in Mesa County. They had deployed emergency protective shelters, which are considered a “last resort” for firefighters when there is no other way out.
Fennessy, the Wildland Fire Service chief, said Sunday that “the weight of this tragedy is felt way beyond our wildland fire community,”
Photos of the firefighters were set up on the stage at the memorial service alongside flowers and flags.
They worked jobs that require courage, selflessness, strength and heart, said Sarah Fisher, the U.S. Forest Service's deputy chief for fire and aviation management.
“The work demands long days, heavy burdens and quiet acts of bravery,” she said. “We will remember them, we will honor their legacy and we will carry their light forward.”
Barker, 38, had so much spirit, and the people around her always strived to be a better person by her presence, said Sarah Brubeck Schnurbusch, a friend and former roommate.
Barker was from Clinton, Michigan, and liked hiking, skiing, dirt biking and playing hockey. She loved firefighting.
“I’ve never seen someone so excited to go to work,” Brubeck Schnurbusch said. She added that her friend helped pave the way for many women in the industry.
Barker was a trailblazer, first working as a teacher “shaping young lives,” Fennessy said. “She didn't just live in wild places, she helped to shape them, care for them and make them better,” he said.
Hutcherson, 27, served in the U.S. Navy and had plans to become a physical therapy doctor, according to the Kaibab National Forest in northern Arizona where he was assigned. He was also an active member of the Northern Arizona Deaf and American Sign Language community.
Hutcherson, who was from Glendale, Arizona, “embodied the spirit of public service” Fennessy said.
He was a dedicated practitioner of Muay Thai martial arts who trained in Flagstaff.
His favorite saying was “easy day,” Fennessy said, “because Nick had an uncommon ability to face hard things with optimism, humility and a smile.”
Watson, 27, was from Warrior, Alabama, and a graduate of the University of Tennessee Southern, where she was a pitcher on the softball team, the university said.
In 2023, she participated in a program in North Carolina organized by the Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges, the group said. In her application, she said she wanted to see more women on the fire line and to learn from other women in the field, the statement said.
“From the time she was very young, she knew she wanted to be a firefighter someday,” Fennessy said.
“I have no doubt she inspired many young women to become a firefighter,” he said.
