A Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter assigned to the 111,000 acre Widemouth 2 Fire crashed at approximately 10:40 a.m. on Friday, August 8. The incident occurred in an area of steep terrain covered in brush and trees.
Sevier County Sheriff Nathan Curtis stated during a Sunday news conference that responders faced the difficult choice of withdrawing from the site due to active flames advancing toward them. The decision was made to prevent additional loss of life as a column of fire moved toward ground crews and search and rescue teams.
Sheriff Curtis reported that he arrived within visual distance of the crash site about 40 minutes after the incident. He noted that while hand crews and search and rescue teams were attempting to reach the area on foot, an active fire began moving toward their position.
Officials were eventually able to bypass previous obstacles through coordination with the DPS helicopter, the Arrow Bureau, and Star Nine. This coordination allowed a team to fly into a nearby area to perform a brief recovery of the two people on board.
The deceased were employees of Helicopter Transport Services, a contract aircraft company for the U.S. Forest Service. Their families have been notified, though their names have not been publicly released. The remains were transported to a location near Highway 4 before being handed off for escort to the medical examiner's office in Taylorsville.
Governor Spencer Cox released a statement on Saturday mourning the two pilots, stating they put themselves in harm's way to protect the state.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the cause of the crash. Their findings will be released once the investigation is complete.
