Plane Assisting in Fire Crashes; Pilot Is Killed

The pilot of a light plane guiding other aircraft that were battling a 1,700-acre brush fire in the Sequoia National Forest was killed when his plane crashed Friday, U.S. Forest Service officials said.

Officials withheld the identity of the pilot pending notification of relatives. They would not describe the 3 p.m. crash of the plane, which was guiding eight air tankers that were dropping retardant on the blaze 35 miles east of Bakersfield.

The fire, started by a cigarette carelessly dropped by a smoker Thursday morning, was 70% contained Friday night after destroying a 1,200-square-foot structure and causing serious injury to a bulldozer operator when his machine ran over him. A total of 1,145 firefighters were on the fire lines.

Full containment was expected this morning in the area described by the forest service as “extremely rugged and nearly inaccessible.”

Two highways into the area were closed and several families in the path of the blaze were evacuated.