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THATCHER, Box Elder County — The man driving an all-terrain vehicle when killed Monday crossing state Route 102 has been identified as 28-year-old Colten Naef, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.
The driver was heading down a dirt road that crosses the two-lane highway into the parking lot of a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse but "failed to yield the right of way" to a Chevy truck pulling a flatbed trailer going west, the UHP said.
He tried to cross the road "at a high rate of speed" but collided with the right rear tire of the Chevy, throwing him from the ATV, according to troopers. The Chevy jackknifed and stopped in the road. The driver and passenger of the Chevy were not injured.
Naef, of Tremonton, had worked for three years as a wildland firefighter and wildland fire engine crew boss for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. According to the division, Naef "led the fuels crew along the Wasatch Front until July" of this year.
He was celebrated in 2019 for helping protect the memorial of two plane crash victims while fighting a 2,300-acre wildfire north of his hometown.
"Colten was one of the nuts in our family tree that kept everyone laughing. He will be missed for that, and his caring heart, and his fearless, and courageous personality," a family member said in a Facebook post.
"He loved the thrill and helping others," the family member wrote, following in the footsteps of his father Casey Naef, a battalion chief for the Weber Fire District. "He was an outstanding employee who everyone enjoyed being around," said David Reed, a deputy chief at the Weber Fire District.
