Two firefighters who were killed in a helicopter crash October 14 while scouting for dipping pools for wildland firefighting, have been classified by the U.S. Fire Administration as line of duty deaths.
Forest Protection Supervisor David "Craig" Mackey and pilot Richard Warren Black of Weyerhaeuser Corporation were surveying the Siuslaw River for potential dip sites that could be used by water bucket-carrying helicopters for fighting fire.
Weyerhaeuser spokesman Frank Mendizabal said the helicopter was flying low when it came upon unmarked power lines. It appears the rotor got entangled, and the helicopter crashed into the Siuslaw River below, in west central Oregon.
Oregon Department of Forestry spokesman Rod Nichols said the cause of the accident is officially still under investigation by the NTSB and FAA.
David Craig Mackey, who went by Craig, became an Oregon Department of Forestry employee in 1974 and started out as a Forest Officer at the Marcola Guard Station in the Eastern Lane District, Nichols said.
In 1975 he was hired as a permanent Forest Officer, and two years later he was promoted to Forest Technician. In 1987 that job evolved into Forest Protection Supervisor in charge of training and prevention, the position he held until his death.
Nichols said that Mackey, 53, was actively involved in firefighting and served as Incident Commander during part of the Sulphur Creek Fire in the Western Lane District last summer. In his office he had several miniature helicopter models and his aviation patch centered on the wall. Mackey also held the Air Attack position on the department's Incident Management Team 3 and was qualified as an Air Operations Branch Director. In addition, he was certified as a Type I Fire Investigator.
Mackey is survived by his wife, two daughters, two sons and a grandson. His hobbies included collecting and restoring motorcycles.
Memorial services for Craig Mackey were held October 18 in Eugene, with personnel from several fire agencies forming a long procession of fire engines that traveled to the service.
Richard Warren Black, 57, had been a pilot for Weyerhaeuser Corporation since 1984, doing forestry related work such as firefighting, scouting and fertilizing, Mendizabal said.
He was a Vietnam veteran, had over 15,000 hours of flight time and was a certified flight instructor. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Black was also an avid outdoorsman, bicyclist and a cancer survivor, and his family asked that any donations in his memory be made to the Lance Armstrong Cancer Research Fund.
Mendizabal said fellow pilots described him as a rock. "He was a guy anybody could go to about anything, any time," he said. "His reputation was a guy who never had a bad thing to say about anybody."
Mendizabal said Black and Mackey had worked and fought fires together many times.
"The fact that we not only had a helicopter crash, but we lost two very, very good people, was really tough," he said.
