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Fire Crew Lost In Copter Crash

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The Associated Press

Published: August 7, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - Eight firefighters and a pilot were presumed dead in the crash of a helicopter that had just picked up firefighters battling a blaze in a Northern California forest, officials said Wednesday.

The helicopter had lifted off Tuesday from a clearing in a remote, rugged region of Shasta-Trinity National Forest, said Jennifer Rabuck, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.

The chopper carried 11 firefighters and two crew members when it went down Tuesday night in the national forest, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.

Four people were flown to hospitals with severe burns, the Forest Service said.

The Sikorsky S-61N chopper was destroyed by fire after crashing "under unknown circumstances," said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor on Wednesday. The NTSB was leading the investigation and was headed to the scene, about 215 miles northwest of Sacramento.

Firefighters waiting to be picked up helped rescue the injured after the helicopter crashed and caught fire about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, Rabuck said. About three dozen firefighters had to spend the night on the mountain because it became too dark for other helicopters to land, she said.

Nine people, a co-pilot and the eight firefighters, were still missing in the wreckage and presumed killed. Recovery efforts had been complicated by the remote location and because the wreckage was still burning, Rabuck said.

"It's difficult to access," she said. "It's very remote, very steep and heavily forested."

The firefighters had been working at the northern end of a fire burning on more than 27 square miles in the national forest, part of a larger complex of blazes that is mostly contained.

"We are praying for the swift recovery of all the victims, and our hearts go out to their loved ones," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.

Some of the firefighters, including those in the hospital, were employed by firefighting contractor Grayback Forestry, based in Merlin, Ore.

Before Tuesday's helicopter crash, three firefighters had been killed while on duty in California this year.

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