Pilot Killed in Nev. Firefighting Air Tanker Crash
Firehouse.com Editor's Note: The USFA has identified the pilot as 45-year-old David Jamsa.
RENO, Nev. --
An air tanker battling a wildfire crashed about 125 miles northeast of Reno late Thursday afternoon, killing the pilot.
Bureau of Land Management spokesman Mark Struble said the pilot was taken to the Lovelock hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The pilot's name was not immediately released.
Kai Olsen of the Central Nevada Interagency Fire Dispatch Center said the plane was a converted one-seat crop duster used for fire suppression.
The single-engine aircraft, an Air Tractor 802, is owned by Minuteman Aviation.
Other aircraft continue to fight the 600-acre fire in the northern end of the Clan Alpine Range.
The National Transportation Safety Board has been notified about the 4 p.m. crash.
No structures were threatened by the fire.
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