I just saw the video of this crash. May they rest in peace.
Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein
Fire-Fighting Air Tanker Crashes
By TOM GARDNER
Associated Press Writer
WALKER, Calif. (AP) — An air tanker fighting a blaze near Yosemite National Park caught fire Monday and crashed in this Northern California resort town, authorities and witnesses said. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Medical crews were sent to the mountain hamlet after the plane went down in a ball of flames, said Laura Williams, spokeswoman for the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center in Minden, Nev.
Williams said she had no information on the crew and it wasn't clear whether anyone on the ground was injured. She said firefighting tankers typically carry three people.
Other aircraft battling the fire were grounded. High winds had grounded tankers and helicopters Sunday.
Terri Russell, a reporter for KOLO-TV in Reno who witnessed the crash, said one of the plane's wings was on fire before the tanker lost altitude and crashed within 150 feet of an auto shop.
``I'm standing here looking at the tail section,'' shop owner Mike Mandichaka told The Associated Press by telephone. ``My shop is right next door. It almost hit it.''
The tanker was battling a 6,500-acre blaze that has forced 400 people out of their homes in Walker, which is 90 miles south of Reno, Nev., and about 25 miles north of Yosemite. At least one home has burned.
Many residents made a narrow escape from wind-whipped flames Sunday night.
``The flames were coming down the mountain toward the town so it was time to go,'' Dan McCall said as he watched the fire burn a few miles east of town Monday afternoon.
``You could feel the heat and hear the roar of the flames,'' he said.
The fire began Saturday in a remote section of the Humbolt-Toiyabe National Forest that the Marines use for survival training. Unexploded ordnance in the steep, rugged area was slowing containment efforts, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
The agency said the fire was ``human'' caused but had no other details. It was only 7 percent contained Monday and was being fought by some 600 firefighters.
Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein
Fire-Fighting Air Tanker Crashes
By TOM GARDNER
Associated Press Writer
WALKER, Calif. (AP) — An air tanker fighting a blaze near Yosemite National Park caught fire Monday and crashed in this Northern California resort town, authorities and witnesses said. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Medical crews were sent to the mountain hamlet after the plane went down in a ball of flames, said Laura Williams, spokeswoman for the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center in Minden, Nev.
Williams said she had no information on the crew and it wasn't clear whether anyone on the ground was injured. She said firefighting tankers typically carry three people.
Other aircraft battling the fire were grounded. High winds had grounded tankers and helicopters Sunday.
Terri Russell, a reporter for KOLO-TV in Reno who witnessed the crash, said one of the plane's wings was on fire before the tanker lost altitude and crashed within 150 feet of an auto shop.
``I'm standing here looking at the tail section,'' shop owner Mike Mandichaka told The Associated Press by telephone. ``My shop is right next door. It almost hit it.''
The tanker was battling a 6,500-acre blaze that has forced 400 people out of their homes in Walker, which is 90 miles south of Reno, Nev., and about 25 miles north of Yosemite. At least one home has burned.
Many residents made a narrow escape from wind-whipped flames Sunday night.
``The flames were coming down the mountain toward the town so it was time to go,'' Dan McCall said as he watched the fire burn a few miles east of town Monday afternoon.
``You could feel the heat and hear the roar of the flames,'' he said.
The fire began Saturday in a remote section of the Humbolt-Toiyabe National Forest that the Marines use for survival training. Unexploded ordnance in the steep, rugged area was slowing containment efforts, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
The agency said the fire was ``human'' caused but had no other details. It was only 7 percent contained Monday and was being fought by some 600 firefighters.
