Copter down in Colorado

[NJFFSA16]

Thank God...no fatalities!

SAGUACHE, Colo. (AP) - A helicopter fighting a fire in
southwestern Colorado crashed Monday afternoon, injuring the four
people on board, authorities said.
The Bell 206 helicopter was making an initial attack on a
wildfire about 15 miles west of Saguache when it crashed at about
4:30 p.m., said Larry Helmerick, a fire information officer with
the Rocky Mountain Coordination Center.
All four people were injured, fire information officer Roger
Condie said. No one was killed.
One person suffered severe head, back and neck injuries. The
other three suffered minor injuries, said Mark Struble, spokesman
for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
Two were listed in serious condition Monday night at Parkview
Medical Center in Pueblo, while the others were being transported
to San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center in Alamosa. They had not
been admitted as of 8 p.m., hospital officials said.
The helicopter, which Struble believed was under contract with
the Bureau of Land Management's Royal Gorge office in Canon City,
was fighting a new wildfire about 130 miles southwest of Denver.
Helmerick said he didn't know how large the fire was or when it
started.
A Flight for Life helicopter was sent to the crash site, about
two miles north of Colorado 114, Helmerick said.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and
a team from the NIFC were en route to the site.
The crash comes less than a month after a helicopter crashed
July 30 while fighting the Big Elk fire southeast of Estes Park.
Pilot Gordon Knight, 52, of Boulder, was killed.
He was at least the 15th person killed this summer while
fighting or en route to fighting wildfires that have burned
millions of acres in the West.
Two weeks before that, a PB4Y-2 Privateer broke apart while
battling the Big Elk fire, killing Milt Stollak, 56, of Cathedral
City, Calif., and Rick Schwartz, 39, of Ulm, Mont.
NTSB investigators and a U.S. Forest Service team were also on
their way to Fairplay, in the mountains southwest of Denver, where
a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron on a reconnaissance flight for the
Forest Service made an emergency landing Monday. The two people on
board were not injured, Helmerick said.
The plane was forced to land because of engine problems, he
said.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press

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DENVER (AP) - The crew aboard a U.S. Forest Service helicopter
reported trouble with the tail rotor before it crash-landed in
southwestern Colorado, though authorities said Tuesday they did not
know what caused the accident.
Investigators were trying to determine whether the tail rotor
failed while the Bell 206 was attempting to drop water on a small
wildfire about 15 miles west of Saguache on Monday.
"Preliminary indications from the flight crew are that the
helicopter lost tail rotor authority and crashed," said U.S Forest
Service Dave Steinke.
Four people aboard the helicopter were injured when it
crash-landed and tipped over at about 4:30 p.m. Monday at a
makeshift helibase near the fire, Steinke said.
Pilot Bruce Harrison, 48, of Redding, Calif., suffered a
fractured spine. He was in fair condition Tuesday at Parkview
Medical Center in Pueblo, said hospital spokeswoman Tressa
Colalancia.
Also aboard were Terry Hillenburg, 53, of Weaverville, Calif.,
in good condition at Parkview with a bruised chest; and Flavio
Jaramillo, 29, of Salida, and Kenny Gallo, 46, of California, who
were both released Tuesday from the San Luis Medical Center in
Alamosa.
Forest Service investigators planned to examine the site
Wednesday, Steinke said.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigator was sent to
Pueblo to interview the pilot, air safety investigator Arnold Scott
said.
He said the helicopter remained at the helibase.
Forest Service stress management experts were dispatched Tuesday
to help firefighters who saw the accident.
"There were a number of people who actually witnessed this,"
Steinke said. "It's pretty stressful. These are people who fly in
these helicopters and work around them all the time. We want to
make sure that those people are doing OK."
The crash came less than a month after a helicopter crashed July
30 while fighting the Big Elk fire southeast of Estes Park. Pilot
Gordon Knight, 52, of Boulder, was killed.
He was at least the 15th person killed this summer while
fighting or en route to fighting wildfires that have burned
millions of acres in the West.
Two weeks before Knight's death, a World War II-era tanker
aircraft broke apart while battling the Big Elk fire, killing Milt
Stollak, 56, of Cathedral City, Calif., and Rick Schwartz, 39, of
Ulm, Mont.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press