Cause of crash that killed 9 unknown

JUNCTION CITY, Calif. – After a long day battling one of Northern California’s most stubborn wildfires, dozens of weary firefighters gathered in a remote wilderness clearing near the fire’s front lines to get a chopper ride back to camp.

Two veteran pilots flying a Sikorsky S-61N, a workhorse helicopter that can carry 16 passengers, had ferried out two groups and returned for another. The third group loaded up, but then there was a problem.

“They went forward a slight bit. Then the aircraft rapidly descended and hit the hillside,” said Andy Mills, chief of helicopter operations for Carson Helicopters Inc., which owned and operated the chopper. “Right now we don’t know why that happened.”

Federal investigators headed to the crash site Thursday to comb charred debris in an effort to determine why the aircraft went down, killing nine and injuring four. According to officials with Carson, there were no obvious warnings of danger Tuesday night. “So far it sounds to me like visibility was not an issue,” Millls said. “It was not windy up on that ridge top.”

The helicopter plunged out of the sky just after takeoff, officials said.

The four survivors – three firefighters and a pilot – were flown from the site to hospitals Tuesday with severe injuries.

Authorities can confirm with “fair certainty” that all nine – seven firefighters, a U.S. Forest Service employee and a pilot – had died, said Undersheriff Eric Palmer.

The firefighters who died in the crash were identified by firefighting contractor Grayback Forestry as Shawn Blazer, 30; Scott Charleson, 25; Matthew Hammer, 23; Edrik Gomez, 19; Bryan Rich, 29; and David Steele, 19. All were from southern Oregon. Grayback said it would not release the name of a seventh victim until it could notify family members.

Carson Helicopters identified the pilot who was killed as Roark Schwanenberg, 54, of Lostine, Ore. The U.S. Forest Service did not identify its employee.

Firefighters Michael Brown, 20, and Jonathan Frohreich, 18, as well as pilot Bill Coultas, 44, were being treated at the UC Davis hospital in Sacramento. Coultas was in critical condition, while Brown and Frohreich were in good condition.

Another firefighter, Richard Schroeder, 42, was in fair condition at Mercy Medical Center in Redding.