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2025 HotShot Up will be in honor of Matthew Nichols

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Matthew  has been a Firefighter with the Orange County Fire Authority since 2017. In 2020 he became a Paramedic and for the past 3 years he has been working as a Squad Boss for the Santiago Hand crew. He has been instrumental to the hand crew program.

Matthew started his fire service career in the Angeles National Forest on a Type 3. He quickly transitioned to the Little Tujunga Hotshots where he operated as a crew member for multiple years before taking an opportunity to work on a Helicopter Repel crew in Idaho. After leaving Idaho, Matthew became a hand crew firefighter with the Ventura County Fire Department before accepting a municipal firefighting position with the Orange County Fire Authority.

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On Thursday September 19th, Matthew was in route back to the incident command post from a shift on the Airport Fire when he was involved in a rollover vehicle accident involving 7 other OCFA hand crew members. While all eight members were injured, Matthew remains the most critically injured from that day. He was admitted to a local hospital and was diagnosed with a severe traumatic brain injury. Each day Matthew is working towards breathing on his own and being able to communicate with his team, family and friends.

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Matthew’s wife Carissa and 10-month-old son Theodore relocated to be with him in Colorado, supporting him every step of the way. The Santiago Hand crew has felt a huge hole in our program. Matthew is an integral part of the overhead as well as a mentor to the crew members.

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