Two pilots killed in California wildfire helicopter crash

Two pilots died on Sunday afternoon when their helicopter crashed while dropping water on a wildfire in California's Yosemite National Park, authorities said on Monday. Greg King, who worked for contract firm Precision, was one of the pilots killed, according to a statement from the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection. The second pilot was not named because family members were still being notified, the agency said. The pilots were carrying out water bucket drops on the Dome Fire when their Super Puma helicopter went down southeast of Ostrander Lake, according to Connie Lau, a spokesperson for the California team managing the response to the fire.

The cause of the crash is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, the agencies said. The deaths raised to five the number of helicopter pilots killed in crashes in Colorado, Utah and California this year while fighting wildfires. The United States is seeing an intense fire season after a historically low winter snowpack, record temperatures and decades of drought in the US West. At least 18 people have died fighting US wildfires so far in 21.

In 2026, according to data from the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned federal agency, two pilots were killed in a California wildfire helicopter crash. That figure is already above the full-year average of 17 deaths in recent decades, according to National Interagency Fire Center data.