Chopper Goes Down Fighting Drake Fire
Pilot Treated, Released Following Crash
POSTED: 3:36 pm MDT July 19, 2005
UPDATED: 7:44 pm MDT July 19, 2005
DRAKE, Colo. -- A helicopter fighting the Drake Fire crashed in the Big Thompson Canyon Tuesday afternoon and fortunately, the pilot survived.The crash was reported at about 3:27 p.m., according to Larry Helmerick with the U.S. Forest Service.
Emergency crews were dispatched to the crash site off Highway 34 in Larimer County. The pilot was walking around the crashed chopper when rescue crews arrived, according to Eloise Campanella with the Larimer County Sheriff's Office. He was airlifted to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins where he was treated and released. His name was not immediately released.The McDonnell Douglas 530-F is owned by Utility Aviation of Fort Collins.Wreckage of the chopper showed that it broke into at least two pieces and ended up on its side. The pilot crashed in an area already burned by the fire.The Drake Fire has been burning since the weekend and has burned 14 acres. It was 75 percent contained Tuesday morning. Drake is located east of Estes Park, Colo.In July 2002 a firefighting helicopter crashed while fighting the Big Elk Fire of Highway 36 in Larimer County, killing the pilot. That accident happened just a few weeks after a PB4Y air tanker went down fighting the same fire. Two pilots died in the tanker crash.
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- July 12, 2005: Firefighters Await Break In Weather; Calmer Winds Help
- July 11, 2005: State Of Emergency Declared For 11,000-Acre Mason Fire
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- July 10, 2005: 150 Homes Evacuated As Wildfire Grows To 2,400 Acres In Southern Colorado
- July 8, 2005: 50 Homes Evacuated As Southern Colo. Wildfire Spreads
- July 1, 2005: Crews Get Upper Hand On Colo. Wildfires
- June 29, 2005: Waterton Canyon Fire Holds At 60 Acres
- June 28, 2005: Wildland Fire Burns In Waterton Canyon
- June 28, 2005: Fire Danger High In Western Colorado
- June 20, 2005: Hot Weather Brings Worries Of High Fire Danger
- August 6, 2002: Cause Of Big Elk Chopper Crash Known
- July 31, 2002: Pilot Identified In Big Elk Fire Chopper Crash
- July 30, 2002: Chopper Crashes Near Big Elk Fire
- July 25, 2002: Big Elk Containment Expected Saturday
- July 24, 2002: Fallen Air Tanker Pilots Remembered
- July 23, 2002: Big Elk Fire Evacuees Allowed To Return
- July 23, 2002: Ceremony To Remember Fallen Pilots Of Big Elk Fire
- July 22, 2002: Investigators Determine Cause Of Big Elk Fire
- July 19, 2002: 2 Killed When Air Tanker Fighting Big Elk Fire Crashes
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