Samantha Moilanen
Leia LarsenA firefighting helicopter with two people on board crashed Friday morning not far from Utah’s massive Widemouth 2 Fire.
The Sikorsky S-64 helicopter crashed in Richfield in Sevier County, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The county borders Millard County, where Widemouth 2 has burned more than 105,000 acres.
The U.S. Forest Service confirmed in a statement Friday that the aircraft was involved in firefighting efforts near the Widemouth 2 Fire at the time of the wreck.
The severity of the crash and the conditions of the two people on board remains unclear. Firefighting officials said late Friday that they have not been able to reach the scene of the crash and do not know whether the passengers survived, due to the ongoing dangerous flames.
“We don’t know the status,” said Tyler Hecht, deputy incident commander with Great Basin Incident Management Team 2, during a news conference Friday evening. “We can confirm there’s been a crash, that’s all we know at this time. We’re still trying to gain access.”
(Tequask via Wikimedia Commons) A Sikorsky S-64 helicopter with the registry N793HT in California in 2014. The aircraft was involved in a crash while fighting the Widemouth 2 Fire near Fillmore, according to the FAA.
Sending firefighters or emergency responders to check on the helicopter would have put crews at further risk, said Sevier County Sheriff Nathan Curtis.
“It’s actively burning in that area,” Curtis said. “No escape routes that any firefighters could get into, or out of, if we put them in there.”
The crash also ignited another fire, emergency responders confirmed at the news conference.
“Please be patient as the response to this incident continues to occur and safety actions are prioritized first,” the Forest Service said in its statement.
The heavy-lift helicopter that crashed is also called an “Air Crane” and is often used for aerial fire suppression, including water drops.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigator was headed to the scene Friday to examine the wreckage, an NTSB spokesperson said. That investigator was expected to arrive Saturday evening; the agency said it could not provide more information until their assessment is complete.
In a statement Friday afternoon, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said fighting wildfires is “among the most dangerous jobs in the world.”
“Today is a painful reminder of the extraordinary risks these brave men and women accept to protect us,” Cox wrote in a social media post shared on X. “We ask all Utahns to keep them in your prayers and to give investigators and emergency responders the time and space they need.”
Cox visited the Widemouth 2 Fire area on Thursday with U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz as part of a multi-site tour focused on Utah’s firefighting response. The two also signed an $18 million funding agreement to support central Utah’s recovery efforts.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Helicopters work on the Widemouth 2 Fire near Fillmore on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026.
The Widemouth 2 Fire, which sparked on July 27, continues to rage across a stretch of the Fishlake National Forest near the communities of Kanosh, Fillmore, Meadow and the Kanosh Band of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah.
As of Friday morning, the lightning-caused blaze was considered 19% contained. A containment figure marks the percentage of a fire’s perimeter where crews feel confident flames won’t cross.
The fire has burned through six structures, officials said Friday.
In June, three firefighters were killed near the Utah-Colorado border while responding to the Knowles and Gore wildfires, which later merged into the Snyder Fire and burned about 30,000 acres. A fourth later died from his injuries.
