Two Die in Crash Fighting Colo. Fire
Jul 19, 1:17 AM (ET)
By JENNIFER HAMILTON
LYONS, Colo. (AP) - An air tanker crashed Thursday while working to control a 1,200-acre wildfire burning near Rocky Mountain National Park, killing the two people on board, aviation officials said.
Fire information officer Martha Moran said the plane went down about a mile north of the blaze, which has forced residents to flee about 120 homes in the northern Colorado foothills. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were en route to the site.
Witnesses said the tanker - a PB4Y model - broke into pieces before plummeting to the ground about 45 miles northwest of Denver.
"There was a bright flash of flame on the left wing. The wing came off and after that he spiraled down. It was just a collective gasp by everybody, 'Oh my God, it went down,'" said Roy Safstrom, who was taking pictures of the wildfire.
Firefighting air tankers nationwide were grounded for 48 hours while the accident was investigated, Forest Service spokeswoman Terri Gates said.
In June, the nation's C-130A tankers were grounded after the wings on one of the firefighting planes snapped off in the air, sending the fuselage to the ground in a fireball in Walker, Calif. Three men were killed. The C-130A had just dumped a load of fire retardant.
Hawkins & Powers Aviation Inc. of Greybull, Wyo., owned the C-130A involved in the California crash and the PB4Y model that went down Thursday.
Ryan Powers, operations assistant for Hawkins & Powers, said he had few details about the crash. He said the names of the victims were being withheld pending notification of their relatives.
"Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the family members. The crews are like family to all of us - it's a pretty tight-knit community here," said Powers, the grandson of company co-owner Gene Powers.
In addition to the air tanker that crashed, Powers said there are four PB4Y planes used to fight fires around the nation.
Before they were converted into air tankers, the PB4Y aircraft were used by the Navy during World War II as patrol bombers against the Japanese in the South Pacific.
The wildfire, which was threatening about 300 homes, was also being fought on the ground by about 80 firefighters.
"Things are readily igniting. The fire is obviously growing," fire information officer Tammy Williams said.
Elsewhere across the West on Thursday, rain slowed wildfires in Nevada but officials in Oregon posted voluntary evacuation notices in the small towns of Ruch, near the California line, and Paisley, in the central highlands.
More than 161,000 acres have been charred in Oregon during what has been an early and active fire season.
"In my 35 years in the Forest Service, this is the most activity I've ever seen," said David Widmark of the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland, Ore.
In southern California, a brush fire erupted Thursday near a highway in San Luis Obispo County and quickly grew to more than 800 acres, forcing the evacuation of 24 homes and a campground.
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