By Josh Funk
AP Transportation Writer
RICHFIELD, Utah — Two helicopter pilots who crashed while they were fighting a wildfire in Utah are dead, officials confirmed Saturday.
The pilots were killed when their Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter went down Friday morning, according to the Sevier County Sheriff.
The helicopter was among those fighting the Widemouth 2 Fire in the Fishlake National Forest. The crash ignited a new fire that spread to connect with the existing blaze, which has now scorched nearly 174 square miles (nearly 451 square kilometers).
Officials did not identify the pilots but said they were employed by Helicopter Transport Services, which was contracted by the U.S. Forest Service.
Initially officials said they were unable to reach the crash site because of the fire. Then, on Saturday, crews were able to enter the area and confirmed the deaths, according to the Sevier County sheriff and coroner.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate once its team can examine the wreckage. It will likely take the NTSB a year or more to determine the cause.
Numerous fires also were burning in other parts of the West, including one that closed part of Mount Rainier National Park in Washington.
The National Park Service shut down access to the Sunrise and White River areas of the park after a new wildfire burned less than a third of a square mile (less than a square kilometer). Firefighters were working to gain control of it.
Larger fires near Spokane, Washington, have now burned more than 15.63 square miles (over 40 square kilometers), but firefighters constructed more than 75 miles (over 120 kilometers) of containment line to help control those flames.
Meanwhile in Oregon, hot and dry conditions helped an uncontrolled fire spread beyond 30 square miles (77.7 square kilometers).
Firefighters were still trying to identify the best places to set up containment lines around the Wrights Spring fire as they mourned the death of 47-year-old Jason Ensign, who was killed while operating a bulldozer for a timber company. The blaze grew rapidly Thursday and cut off Ensign’s escape route.
And north of the border in British Columbia, more than 20,000 people had to evacuate ahead of another fast-moving wildfire.
