An air tanker that went missing in Oregon while helping fight wildfires was located on July 26, and its pilot was confirmed to have died, according to authorities.
Lisa Clark, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesperson for the Falls Fire, told media outlets that a Grant County Search and Rescue team located the aircraft and pilot on the morning of July 26 in steep terrain where the tanker plane was helping fight the Falls Fire.
The aircraft was a single-engine tanker resembling a crop duster and had been contracted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to help battle some of the 300,000 acres of wildfires raging in eastern Oregon alone. Dozens more active wildfires are burning across several parts of the United States.
The tanker disappeared on July 25, prompting a search that was suspended at nightfall. The tanker was located when the search resumed the next morning, according to local North West Incident Management Team 8.
More than 120 large wildfires are currently spreading across Oregon. The pilot was battling a new fire started by lightning near Seneca in the Malheur National Forest.
The USDA Forest Service said, “The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are working with local law enforcement and other agencies to investigate the circumstances and conditions related to the incident.”
Arson Arrest
Authorities say a 42-year-old Chico man, Ronnie Dean Stout II, was arrested on July 25 on suspicion of arson after allegedly pushing a burning vehicle into a gully in Butte County, California, starting the Park Fire outbreak.The man was then seen “calmly leaving the area by blending in with the other citizens who were in the area and fleeing the rapidly evolving fire,” according to the Butte County District Attorney’s Office.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, 111 wildfires were being managed as of July 26 and had burned 1.8 million acres.
The Falls Fire, near the town of Seneca on the edge of the Malheur National Forest, has grown to 219 square miles and is 55 percent contained, according to InciWeb, a government website providing tracking information. This fire is affecting more than 140,000 acres.
Fire managers are using full suppression strategies on 104 of these wildfires, the National Interagency Fire Center said.
Evacuation orders are in effect on 15 wildfires, including several fires in California and the Great Basin. Many of these wildfires are deemed to exhibit active to extreme fire behavior.
More than 130 structures have been destroyed in Northern California, and thousands more remain at risk.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has deployed resources from the National Guard for disaster assistance. Earlier this month, the governor declared an “extended state of emergency” until October because of the increased risk of wildfires.