From the Rapid City Journal, Rapid City South Dakota
1 hour ago • Aaron Orlowski Journal staff(0) Comments
A C-130 plane fighting the White Draw fire "went down" Sunday night, according to the Fall River County Sheriff's Office.

A helicopter was able to land near the plane and took three people to Custer to be transported by ambulance to Rapid City Regional Hospital for further medical treatment, the Sheriff's Office said.

"Our number one priority right now is taking care of the crew," Pat Cross, incident management spokesman, said Sunday. He said search and rescue crews were on their way, but said he knew no further details.

The aircraft disappeared from radar contact early Sunday evening, according to Dakota Fire Information spokeswoman Julie Molzahn. Emergency management personnel were scrambling to uncover the full details Sunday evening.

There 181 personnel fighting the fire, which has grown to more than 3,000 acres and is only 10 percent contained. The C-130 Hercules Air Force plane has been used to drop retardant on the fire.


On the 10:00 News witnesses reported seeing it go down for the pass and continuing downward to the crash.

This is bad news, I know many of the aircrew members that do these MAFFS drops from the Wyoming ANG where I used to be stationed. I hope everyone is alright.

The cause of this fire is thought to be an RV which caught on fire and pulled to the shoulder of the road catching the grass on fire. Information on this fire and several others in the area here. http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/ ... 9f820.html

Sorry to hear this. I spent an afternoon last week watching Heli's and planes bomb a fire in Sanpete County. Those guys are a special breed. They are out there all day putting their lives on the line. My condolences to all involved.

This year has been terrible for fires here in Utah. I worked three days for the Red Cross last week. I have delivered their Vans and helped set up three separate shelters. If any of you guys have too much time on your hands, you might want to sign up or donate. We gave away a lot of stuff last week to some pretty desperate people, some had lost everything they owned. It was all donated.

I use to fight forest fires. I know what kind of hazards one has to deal with when out there. I hope all is well with the crew . Plese Be safe out there.

Ken in Alaska

bummer, glad to hear they may be survivors. That sounds more like a forced landing than the typical fire fighting crash.

dirtstrip wrote:From the Rapid City Journal, Rapid City South Dakota
1 hour ago • Aaron Orlowski Journal staff(0) Comments
A C-130 plane fighting the White Draw fire "went down" Sunday night, according to the Fall River County Sheriff's Office.

A helicopter was able to land near the plane and took three people to Custer to be transported by ambulance to Rapid City Regional Hospital for further medical treatment, the Sheriff's Office said.

"Our number one priority right now is taking care of the crew," Pat Cross, incident management spokesman, said Sunday. He said search and rescue crews were on their way, but said he knew no further details.

The aircraft disappeared from radar contact early Sunday evening, according to Dakota Fire Information spokeswoman Julie Molzahn. Emergency management personnel were scrambling to uncover the full details Sunday evening.

There 181 personnel fighting the fire, which has grown to more than 3,000 acres and is only 10 percent contained. The C-130 Hercules Air Force plane has been used to drop retardant on the fire.


On the 10:00 News witnesses reported seeing it go down for the pass and continuing downward to the crash.

The findings of the investigation into the crash are here.http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/ ... 6220121115

It was a very tough summer for firefighters and we thank them all for their sacrifice.