Two pilots were killed when a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane crashed while supporting firefighting operations on Utah’s Widemouth 2 Fire, near Richfield and the Three Creeks Reservoir area in central Utah. The aircraft was working under contract for the U.S. Forest Service when it went down on Friday, and the wreckage was reached only on Saturday after crews overcame fire activity and difficult terrain.
The crash occurred on Fishlake National Forest land amid active wildfire conditions, and the impact ignited a new fire near the wreckage. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. The Skycrane, a heavy-lift helicopter widely used in aerial firefighting, had been operating in support of suppression efforts on a fire that began with a lightning strike on 27 July and expanded rapidly across central Utah.
Officials initially could not confirm the crew’s condition because access to the site remained unsafe. Later recovery operations confirmed both occupants were dead, and the victims were identified as the aircraft’s two pilots. The loss adds to scrutiny of aerial firefighting risk, where steep terrain, smoke and fast-moving fire behaviour can complicate both rescue and accident response.