3 firefighters killed in blazes along Colorado-Utah border are identified

3 firefighters killed in blazes along Colorado-Utah border are identified 0 seconds of 46 secondsVolume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up Panini sticker swapping an 'iconic part of any World Cup' 01:00 Subtitle Settings OffEnglish(US)_v Font Color White Font Opacity 100% Font Size 100% Font Family Arial Character Edge None Edge Color Black Background Color Black Background Opacity 50% Window Color Black Window Opacity 0% Reset WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25% 200%175%150%125%100%75%50% ArialCourierGeorgiaImpactLucida ConsoleTahomaTimes New RomanTrebuchet MSVerdana NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop Shadow WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% 00:00 00:46 00:46 More Videos 01:00 Panini sticker swapping an 'iconic part of any World Cup' 01:14 Araghchi insists Iran will oversee reopening Strait of Hormuz 01:22 Robots used by Amazon keep packages moving quickly 01:57 Argentina in Texas raises rivalry among beef lovers at World Cup 01:05 Trump hails 'great' GOP Senate meeting after calling off bipartisan housing bill signing 01:00 Rubio comments on US assistance for Venezuela after powerful quakes, meetings with Gulf countries 01:21 Mamdani slate sweeps Democratic primaries in New York, ousts 2 incumbents from Congress 01:28 Riding the waves on Ireland's wild Atlantic coast Close 1 of 4 | The largest fire in the United States has spread through tens of thousands of square miles of tinder-dry forest in Utah, fueled by conditions that fire managers and experts call unprecedented. (AP video by Ty O’Neil) 2 of 4 | The Snyder Fire burns near Thompson Springs, Utah, on Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) 3 of 4 | A helicopter drops water on the Cottonwood Fire burning near Beaver, Utah, on Saturday, June 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) 4 of 4 | A firefighting aircraft rests on the tarmac at Grand Junction Regional Airport in Grand Junction, Colo., as the Snyder Fire burns nearby on Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) By TY ONEIL, Matthew Brown and John Seewer Updated 7:36 PM MESZ, June 29, 2026 Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Beaver, Utah (AP) — The three firefighters killed over the weekend in wildfires along the Colorado-Utah border were part of a crew that goes into remote areas to quickly put out new fires, federal officials said Monday. The three were killed and two others suffered burns when they were overcome Saturday by flames after deploying emergency shelters to shield themselves from fast-moving fires. Wildfires have erupted over the past week across the West, fueled by months of dry weather and a record lack of snow this past winter in some places. Wildfire experts have been warning for months that extreme fire dangers are likely this summer. With more than two dozen large fires burning across the U.S., almost 8,000 wildland firefighters and dozens of firefighting helicopters have been deployed. About half of the largest blazes are in Alaska while the rest are mostly in Western states. Officials on Monday increased the national “preparedness level” for wildfires to a 4, on a scale of 1 to 5. That’s a sign resources are beginning to be strained, and officials warned of a high potential for new, large fires in multiple parts of the country in coming days. 3 firefighters killed in Colorado as wildfires stoked by heat, wind rage across the West 3 MIN READ 39 Winds hamper crews as fast-moving fire in Utah, the largest in the US, burns through forests 4 MIN READ 94 10 jurors said Palisades Fire suspect isn’t guilty. Now he faces an October retrial 5 MIN READ 53 Among the concerns were high winds in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, in the Black Hills of South Dakota and across portions of the High Plains. Evacuations were in place for seven fires, including in Arizona, Washington state, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. So far this year, the fires have burned more than 4,800 square miles (12,400 square kilometers) — the most by this point in the year since 2022 and significantly above the 10-year average. The U.S. Forest Service identified the firefighters killed as Emily Barker, 38, of Clinton Township, Michigan; Nick Hutcherson, 27 of Glendale, Arizona; and Sydney Watson, 26, of Warrior, Alabama. They were assigned to a Helitack crew that can be dropped into remote areas by helicopters and whose mission is to prevent new fires from growing into out-of-control blazes. But it can be extremely dangerous, often taking place in areas where fires are rapidly expanding. One of the crew members worked for the U.S. Wildland Fire Service while two were assigned to the U.S. Forest Service and all were part of an interagency response to fires just west of Grand Junction, Colorado. The Snyder Fire in the area has burned about 44 square miles (114 square kilometers), authorities said. The Wildland Fire Service, created earlier this year to streamline firefighting on public lands, said in a statement that it “stands united” with the Forest Service in grief and “in our unwavering support for the loved ones left behind.” The weekend deaths came almost exactly 13 years after a crew of 19 wildland firefighters were killed when they were trapped in a brush-choked box canyon near Yarnell, Arizona. Like Saturday’s victims, the men killed in Arizona in June 2013 were members of a specialized firefighting crew who had tried to deploy emergency shelters meant to shield them from flames and heat. Brown reported from Billings, Montana and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Matthew Brown Brown is based in Billings, Montana. He covers breaking news, the environment, politics, energy, crime and more. John Seewer Seewer covers state and national news for The Associated Press and is based in Toledo, Ohio. twitter mailto