Pilots killed in Yosemite Dome Fire helicopter crash identified
MARIPOSA COUNTY, Calif. -- Two helicopter pilots were killed when their aircraft crashed Sunday afternoon while conducting water drops on a wildfire at Yosemite National Park, officials say.
They have been identified as Greg King and Ryan Cutter, according to their contract aircraft company Precision.
The pilots were contracted by California Incident Management Team 3 to assist with firefighting operations on the Dome Fire, which entered its sixth day of burning Monday.
The two were the only people on board. They were working with a wildland firefighting crew that specializes in using ropes to descend from helicopters to reach otherwise inaccessible terrain, known as helitack rappelling.
The Super Puma helicopter was using a water bucket to help suppress the fire when it went down southeast of Ostrander Lake, said Benjamin Cossel, a spokesperson with the Federal Complex Incident Management Team overseeing the firefighting response.
Details about the circumstances surrounding the crash were not immediately released. The crash will be investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
"It is with unimaginable sadness and broken hearts that we share the loss of two beloved members of our team," Precision wrote in a social media post. "We are devastated by this loss and are struggling to find the words. We ask for privacy and compassion for their families and our team as we grieve this tremendous loss."
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Roughly 580 people are fighting the Dome Fire, which started Sept. 15 near Wawona, California, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. It's burning on about 4.7 square miles and is about 15% contained.
The lake near the crash site was roughly 9 miles south of Yosemite's iconic El Capitan, and about 7 miles northeast of Wawona.
At least 14 people have died while helping with wildfires in the U.S. this year, the most since 2022 when 25 deaths were recorded, according to government reports.
In August, two helicopter pilots died while helping fight a fire in Utah, and a helicopter pilot in Colorado crashed into a reservoir.
Earlier this month, a firefighter suffered a medical emergency while fighting a wildfire in Oklahoma. Another firefighter in Oregon was hit by a tree that broke while he was cutting it in Mt. Hood National Forest.
Also in August, a wildfire officer was killed after getting trapped while evacuating a burning building in a wildland fire in Oklahoma; a firefighter died following a medical emergency during a wildfire in Minnesota; and a bulldozer operator got overrun by flames in Oregon.
In June, four firefighters got trapped in a fire in western Colorado.
ABC30 Action News contributed to this report.
