Utah firefighter who died battling Ranch fire sent home to Salt Lake City area

Scores of firefighters from various California agencies and counties gave a solemn farewell Wednesday afternoon to a Utah firefighter who came to the North Coast to battle the massive Ranch fire and left in a flag-covered coffin aboard a C-130 airplane.

The firefighters, many of them with Cal Fire, stood at attention in a long, L-shaped formation on the tarmac of Cal Fire’s air attack base near the Sonoma County Airport. The line of firefighters ended at the back of the C-130, where a black hearse carried the body of Matthew Burchett, 42, a battalion chief with the Draper Fire Department near Salt Lake City.

Among those attending the ceremony were Draper firefighters, who came with Burchett earlier this month to battle a mammoth blaze that’s devoured 315,225 acres since it started on July 27. Nearby, a pair of ladder trucks from the Windsor and Santa Rosa fire departments raised a large American flag between them.

For a firefighter attending such a ceremony, thoughts usually turn inward, said Christian Linnemann, a Cal Fire spokesman who attended the ceremony.

“You can’t help but put yourself in the same position and your family in the same position,” Linnemann said. “We all chose to do this. We know that could happen, but we do everything in our power to not let it happen.”

The procession that brought Burchett’s hearse to Santa Rosa on Wednesday began about 2:30 p.m. in Ukiah, at Eversole Mortuary. It was led by CHP officers and sheriff’s officials from Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

Just outside Cal Fire’s air attack base, local firefighters from multiple agencies in Sonoma County lined both sides of Airport Boulevard. Police academy recruits from the Santa Rosa Junior College Public Safety Training Center were also present.

Santa Rosa fire Battalion Chief Mark Basque said it’s been a tragic year in California for firefighters battling wildfires - on top of the numerous civilian deaths. He pointed out that two have died in the Ferguson fire near Yosemite; three in the Carr fire near Redding; and now one in the Mendocino Complex fire currently burning north into the Mendocino National Forest.

Basque said such processions for fallen firefighters are a time to reflect and a reminder of the dangers of the job.

“The important part you recognize is that bad things can happen to good people, and experienced people,” Basque said.

Cal Fire’s honor guard followed Burchett’s procession, which included his wife and brother, also a firefighter. Both boarded the C-130 and flew back to Utah with the coffin.

Burchett was injured Monday by a falling tree while battling the Ranch fire near Lake Pillsbury’s Scott Dam. He was transported to the Ukiah Valley Medical Center, where he later died. Three other firefighters were injured in the incident.

Burchett, who had a young son, was one of five firefighters in his department who came to California fires on Aug. 2.

Firefighters observed the ceremony even as thousands of others continued to fight the Ranch fire, which grew by nearly 10,000 acres to 315,225 acres between Tuesday and Wednesday nights. It remains at 64 percent containment. Its sister fire, the River fire, is fully contained.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish. You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.