GRAND JUNCTION — Nathan “Nate” Matthews was a “bad ass,” U.S. Wildland Fire Service Director Brian Fennessy said during a memorial service for Matthews Saturday in Grand Junction.
He was known on the fire lines as a lover of fresh-brewed coffee and “bubbly water,” a maker of creative fire camp mocktails, a trickster, and a reliable and kind worker who was an outdoorsman to his core.
The 43-year-old from Lincoln, Nebraska, fought wildland fires for 11 years, and he had been fighting hard for his life for nearly a month in a Denver burn unit, according to fellow Rifle Helitack Team member Megan Spencer, who had spent time with him there…