Firefighting Copter Crashes, Killing 3 Near Yellowstone
A helicopter assigned to the largest wildfire in Montana crashed in a brushy ravine north of Yellowstone National Park on Friday, killing all three people aboard.
The copter assigned to the 25,500-acre fire went down during a maintenance flight to check its condition, Columbia Helicopters spokesman Jon Lazzaretti said from company headquarters in Portland, Ore.
Later Friday, a fire in northwestern Montana swept into Glacier National Park, increasing from 17,100 to 25,500 acres.
The helicopter crash follows Monday’s collision of two firefighting planes in Northern California that killed two pilots.
“Firefighting is a dangerous business,” said fire information officer Warren Bielenberg. “We’ve got 1,200 people involved with this thing. They’ve been here 10 days and there was one injury before today.”
The Vertol 107, with a 44-foot fuselage and a rotor at each end, was among the largest of the 15 helicopters assigned to the blaze. The company said those killed in the crash were pilot Rich Hernandez, 37, co-pilot Santi Arovitx, 28, and crew chief Kip Krigbaum, 45.
The blaze was one of four major wildfires in the state Friday.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
