‘A place to remember’

By DAN WEST

Dan.West@gjsentinel.com

Acommunity group has been quietly meeting to discuss ways to memorialize the firefighters who fought, were injured and died battling the Snyder Fire in western Mesa County this summer.

Leroy Winters has been acting as the group’s leader, which held its second meeting at the Lower Valley Fire Station in Fruita on Thursday, Aug. 27. Winters said he was convinced to start the effort from members of a local brunch group.

“The main place that got me involved was Central High School (Class of 1959) has a monthly brunch,” Winters said. “It was brought up there and I got pushed into accepting it. They started giving me donations and it just kind of mushroomed.”

The group is new and still discussing ideas for a potential monument or memorial. They are also reaching out to the families of the deceased firefighters to ensure they are open to the idea of a memorial.

The initial idea is to have a memorial similar to what was done in remembrance of the 14 wildland firefighters who died in the South Canyon Fire (also known as Storm King Fire) in 1994.

The Snyder Fire has, so far, resulted in four deaths.

The fire began as several smaller fires on Friday, June 26, and Saturday, June 27. A crew of five wildland firefighters from Rifle Helitack responded to what was then called the Knowles Fire on June 27.

Strong winds caused rapid growth of the fires with fire overtaking the Helitack crew. Three of the firefighters died on June 27 — Nick Hutcherson, Emily Barker and Sydney Watson. The two others were injured, but evacuated. Nathan “Nate” Matthews died of his injuries on July 24.

The fifth firefighter has not been identified by the Department of the Interior.

More than 400 firefighters were deployed to contain the Snyder Fire at its peak in early July.

Kaye and Dan Carlson of Carlson Memorials, Inc. attended the Thursday meeting to show examples of other memorials they had created around the community. Kaye Carlson said Winters contacted them to help with the effort.

“That’s what we’ve done for the last 50 years,” Kaye Carlson said. “Carlson Memorials has memorialized all forms of life and tragedies. You need a place to go. You need a place to remember.

“This was such a large loss in this local area. To have a monument to represent the five people plus the everybody else that worked at that fire, it’s huge. It’s just showing respect for what they gave.”

The group on Thursday discussed ideas for

See REMEMBER, page 4A ➤

Leroy Winters leads a meeting at the Lower Valley Fire District on Thursday, Aug. 27, to discuss the possibility of creating a memorial in Fruita for the four firefighters who died fighting the Knowles Fire in June. Winters has been acting as the group’s leader and the group is new and still discussing ideas for a potential monument or memorial.

LARRY ROBINSON/ The Daily Sentinel

Kaye Carlson, with Carlson Memorials Inc., holds up photos of memorials for firefighters on Thursday, Aug. 27 at the Lower Valley Fire District while discussing the possibility of creating a memorial in Fruita for the four firefighters that died fighting the Knowles Fire in June. “That’s what we’ve done for the last 50 years,” Carlson said. “Carlson Memorials has memorialized all forms of life and tragedies.”

LARRY ROBINSON/ The Daily Sentinel

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fundraising and getting the word out to the community about this effort.

They’re still looking into a way to partner with a nonprofit that can help them collect donations.

They’ve already had one community member contribute artistically.

Local musician Rick Kennerknecht composed and recorded a song called Rest of the Way to memorialize the firefighters. The recording was played Thursday and his son, Cody Kennerknecht, attended the meeting in place of his dad.

“He’s always been involved in the community,” Kennerknecht said.

“I’m just standing in for him, but I enjoy memorializing … and being a part of the community.

Just bringing it to light.”

Potential locations for the memorial were also discussed, including at the Fruita Welcome Center. However, for this early period, Winters said they are mostly looking to get more people from the community involved.

“The reason I want people involved for one thing is so that we can have committees to work on these issues,” Winters said. “It can’t all be on one person or a select number of people.

We need more people involved to get opinions, people involved in contacting people, etc.”

Jay D. Muller, with Moon Farm in Fruita, offered up a spot at the Moon Farm Vendor Fair on Saturday, Sept. 12, for the group. Muller said Moon Farm is a possible location the group could use for a future fundraiser as well.

Winters said they plan to have someone at Moon Farm offering information about the group. It is also planning to hold its next meeting at Lower Valley Fire District station in Fruita at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1.

Dan Carlson said he was glad the group was starting to discuss making some sort of memorial to the firefighters and hoped it would gain momentum.

“We respect the first responders and the firefighters so much that memorializing even what they do is very valuable,” Carlson said. “It’s like the Desert Storm monuments that we put out at the Veterans Cemetery.

A lot of people lost their lives over those wars. It’s remembering what took place.”

Jay D. Muller, with the Moon Farm in Fruita, points to possible areas for an outdoor meeting at the Moon Farm on Thursday, Aug. 27 during a meeting to discuss the possibility of creating a memorial in Fruita for the four firefighters that died fighting the Knowles Fire in June. Muller offered up a spot at the Moon Farm Vendor Fair on Saturday, Sept. 12, for the group that is leading the effort to create some sort of memorial.

LARRY ROBINSON/ The Daily Sentinel