Two helicopter pilots were killed Friday morning when their aircraft crashed while fighting a wildfire in Utah's Fishlake National Forest, officials confirmed Saturday.
The Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter went down in the Sevier County area. The crash sparked a new fire that merged with the existing blaze, which has now consumed nearly 174 square miles.
Officials have not yet identified the pilots, who were employed by Helicopter Transport Services, a company contracted by the U.S. Forest Service. Initially, crews were unable to reach the crash site due to the active wildfire. By Saturday, authorities were able to access the area and confirm the fatalities.
The National Transportation Safety Board is slated to investigate the incident. Determining the cause of the crash is expected to take the NTSB a year or more.
Elsewhere in the West, multiple wildfires are active. In Washington state, a wildfire has led to the closure of parts of Mount Rainier National Park. The National Park Service has restricted access to the Sunrise and White River areas after a new fire burned less than a square mile. Near Spokane, Washington, larger fires have burned over 15.63 square miles, though firefighters have established more than 75 miles of containment lines.
Oregon is also experiencing significant fire activity, with an uncontrolled blaze spreading across more than 30 square miles amid hot and dry conditions. Firefighters were working to establish containment lines for the Wrights Spring fire. In that state, a bulldozer operator, 47-year-old Jason Ensign, was killed while working for a timber company when the fire grew rapidly and cut off his escape route.
North of the border, British Columbia is contending with a fast-moving wildfire that has prompted the evacuation of more than 20,000 residents.