Pilot Found Dead After Firefighting Tanker Crashes in Oregon

Rescuers located the aircraft and its pilot on Friday morning in steep terrain.

Firefighters watch as flames and smoke move through a valley in the Forest Ranch area of Butte County as the Park Fire continues to burn near Chico, Calif., on July 26, 2024. Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

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.

“It’s with deep sadness that we share the death of a member of the wildland firefighter community following the conclusion of search efforts for a BLM contracted single-engine air tanker (SEAT). The SEAT and its pilot went missing last night while working in the vicinity of the Falls Fire,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service said in a statement on July 26.

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.”

Thomas Kyle-Milward, spokesperson for Northwest Incident Management Team 8, said the pilot was the only person on board.

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.

Nearly 25,000 firefighters and support crews are battling the wildfires, including 29 complex and five Type 1 incident management teams, 552 crews, and nearly 1,500 engines. Numerous aviation resources have also been deployed, including four Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems that have been placed in military C-130 aircraft, converting them into air tankers.

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.