The U.S. Interior Department announced Saturday that a fourth wildland firefighter has lost his life due to injuries he suffered while battling the Knowles Fire in western Colorado last month.
The agency identified the firefighter as Nathan Matthews, 43 years old, from Lincoln, Nebraska.
Three other firefighters were killed on June 27 when the fire swept over their position southwest of Loma, Colorado. Matthews had been among those wounded in that same incident and has now also succumbed to his injuries.
The event — known as a burnover, which occurs when a wildfire overtakes the firefighters working to contain it — is considered the deadliest such tragedy since the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona in 2013, which claimed the lives of 19 firefighters.
Wildland firefighters are specialists trained to combat fires burning through natural landscapes, including forests and grasslands.
The United States is experiencing a more severe wildfire season than usual this year. Historically low snowpack levels across the western part of the country have worsened drought conditions, creating an environment that makes fires more likely and harder to control.
U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz addressed Congress on Wednesday, saying his agency is pursuing what he called a “full suppression” approach — working to contain every fire while it is still small, rather than allowing naturally started fires to burn as they sometimes would for environmental reasons.
