Investigation Begins In Fatal Air Tanker Crash

Fiery Crash Caught On Videotape

WALKER, Calif. -- Investigators Tuesday scoured the remains of an air tanker that killed three crewmembers and crashed in a ball of flames while fighting a Sierra fire.

Watch Video Of The Plane Crashing

Television reporter Terri Russell was watching the skies over a blazing wildfire when the plane came into view, trailing a red flow of fire retardant. Suddenly, both wings snapped off and flashed with flames as they separated. The fiery fuselage rolled left and nosed into the ground, exploding in flames and a mushroom of black smoke. "It was almost surreal," Russell said. "You saw it go down and for a second, I thought, `Is that really what I saw?"'

All three victims are from California. The crew members have been identified by the Mono County coroner as 42-year-old Steven Ray Wass of Gardnerville, 36-year-old Craig Labare of Loomis, and 59-year-old Michael Harlow Davis of Bakersfield.

The C-130 transport was fighting a 10,000-acre wild land blaze that forced 400 people to evacuate and continued to threaten the Northern California resort town.

Federal investigators are trying to determine the cause of the crash, and decided, Tuesday, to ground all C-130-A air tankers fighting fires nationally.

"Right now, we're working on gathering information, and we're just beginning," National Transportation Safety Board investigator George Petersen said by telephone before leaving for the crash site.

Witnesses said that the plane crashed at mid-afternoon in a field just east of U.S. Highway 395 - within 150 feet of an auto shop.

"I'm standing here looking at the tail section," shop owner Mike Mandichak said. "My shop is right next door. It almost hit it."

The plane was fighting the fire on a government contract from Hawkins & Powers Aviation Inc. of Greybull, Wyo. The company's only accident listed in a National Transportation and Safety Board database is a 1999 hard landing of a helicopter during coyote research in Utah.

The wildfire began Saturday afternoon in a remote section of the Humbolt-Toiyabe National Forest that the Marines use for survival training.

Most residents who were forced to evacuate were allowed to return on Monday. Many had made a narrow escape on Sunday as erratic winds pushed the flames into neighborhoods and within 100 feet of U.S. 395.

Previous Story:

• June 18, 2002: 3 Die In California Air Tanker Crash

Copyright 2002 by TheDenverChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.