Wildfire Season Again Proves Deadly To Aviators

It's wildfire season in the American West. Sadly, for some fliers and firefighters who risk their aircraft and their lives, it's also the season to die.

A helicopter ferrying elite firefighters to the Aspen Ridge blaze in Arizona crashed Saturday, killing two people and injuring two others. The casualties have not yet been identified, according to a spokesman for the flight contractor.

There's no word yet on the cause of the crash. 

In Idaho, dozens of firefighters attended a memorial service Saturday for 24-year old Jeff Allen. He was overtaken by flames after he and a fellow firefighter rappelled from a helicopter into a rugged area of the Salmon-Challis National Forest.

There's More, Unfortunately.

On Friday, another helicopter went down in northeastern Washington state. A fire agency official said the sole occupant on board, pilot Randall Harmon, 44, of Grant Pass (OR), died when his chopper crashed in the Colville Indian Reservation.

There are still two months left in the fire season. Right now, wildfires are burning in 12 western states.

**   Report created 7/28/2003   Record 15   **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 6184D        Make/Model: B206      Description: BELL 206B HELICOPTER
  Date: 07/26/2003     Time: 1730
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial

LOCATION
  City: WHITERIVER   State: AZ   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
BELL 206L, N6184D, ROTORCRAFT WHILE TRANSPORTING BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS FIRE FIGHTING PERSONNEL, CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, FOUR PERSONS WERE ON BOARD, TWO WERE FATALLY INJURED AND TWO WERE SERIOIUSLY INJURED, WHITERIVER, AZ

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   2
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   1     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   Y
                 # Pass:   3     Fat:   1     Ser:   2     Min:   0     Unk:   Y
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: UNK
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Pleasure      Phase: Unknown      Operation: Air Taxi (On Demand)
  Departed: UNK                         Dep Date:    Dep. Time:
  Destination: UNK                      Flt Plan: UNK          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont: UNK
  Last Clearance: UNK
  FAA FSDO: SCOTTSDALE, AZ  (WP07)                Entry date: 07/28/2003

FMI: www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html