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Plane CrashesVersion 18

Firefighting Helicopter Crashes at Utah Wildfire; Condition of Two Aboard Unknown

A Sikorsky S-64 working the Widemouth 2 Fire near Richfield went down with two people aboard, and the cause has not been determined.

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 8, 2026, 2:25 a.m. ET
A firefighting helicopter crashed while working a wildfire in Utah, according to bignewsnetwork.com. Most outlets — bignewsnetwork.com, express.co.uk, firerescue1.com, azfamily.com, clickondetroit.com, ksat.com, utahindependent.com and theepochtimes.com — place the crash on August 7, 2026, while siasat.com gives the date as August 7, 2025. The situation is developing and details remain incomplete. Bignewsnetwork.com and utahindependent.com reported that the aircraft, a , went down at in the vicinity of the Widemouth Fire, near , which outlets including canberratimes.com.au and ksat.com describe as about 160 miles south of Salt Lake City. people were aboard, according to bignewsnetwork.com, canberratimes.com.au and ksat.com. Information on their condition was not immediately available, those outlets reported, and canberratimes.com.au reported that the FAA and wildfire officials did not have information on the condition of the aboard. Canberratimes.com.au also reported that the Sevier County Sheriff did not immediately respond to questions about the crash. "Skycrane" helicopters can be equipped with tanks to drop water or fire retardant, the outlets reported. Firerescue1.com reported that the helicopter had been working in an area with steep terrain, that the crash ignited another fire, and that response teams could not reach the accident scene by Friday evening because of flames — a point attributed by express.co.uk to Sevier County Sheriff Nathan Curtis. Firerescue1.com reported that firefighting efforts were paused after the crash but later resumed, and quoted Tyler Hecht of the Great Basin Incident Management Team as saying conditions were good enough for aircraft to fly when the helicopter crashed. The helicopter was one of seven aircraft working the central Utah fire, according to canberratimes.com.au. The Widemouth Fire is the second-largest wildfire of Utah's 2026 fire season, was lightning-caused and was discovered on July 27, according to bignewsnetwork.com, which reported it had burned more than 105,000 acres and was 19 percent contained. Express.co.uk reported the fire, on the Fishlake National Forest, had grown to 165 square miles and was 19% contained, with more than 600 firefighting personnel battling the blaze, which destroyed at least six structures. Canberratimes.com.au reported the fire, in the Fishlake National Forest near Kanosh, Utah, had grown to 427 square kilometres and was 19 per cent contained by Friday, and that red flag warnings were in effect, with crews warned of erratic winds, dry fuels, hot temperatures and potential dry thunderstorms. The cause of the crash has not been determined. Canberratimes.com.au, azfamily.com, clickondetroit.com, ksat.com, siasat.com, theepochtimes.com, freepressjournal.in, wdio.com and firerescue1.com reported that the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate, but that investigators may not — or, as canberratimes.com.au, wdio.com and siasat.com put it, might not — be able to safely reach the scene immediately if the wildfire is burning nearby. The aircraft's registration has not been identified in the available reporting.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Terrain elevation
846 ft
Nearest aerodrome
3.2 miles W of Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (KMSP/MSP)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 188 Aug 2026, 06:25current

    No new facts; headline and dek added, text otherwise unchanged.

  2. Version 178 Aug 2026, 05:07

    Added the 427 square kilometre fire size reported by canberratimes.com.au and broadened outlet attribution on the date and on the NTSB/FAA investigation lines.

  3. Version 168 Aug 2026, 04:12

    Added the reported distance of Richfield from Salt Lake City and a summary dek; no change to casualty or investigation facts.

  4. Version 158 Aug 2026, 04:08

    Added headline and dek; body unchanged in substance, with supplied Minnesota-based weather and location reference data omitted as not applicable to the Utah crash site.

  5. Version 148 Aug 2026, 03:42

    Added ksat.com and siasat.com attributions to the date, souls-aboard and investigation lines, and noted the S-64's water/retardant tank capability.

  6. Version 138 Aug 2026, 03:22

    Added clickondetroit.com to the date and investigation attributions and removed a duplicated metric fire-size figure; no new facts.

  7. Version 128 Aug 2026, 03:12

    Added the sourced date disagreement, with siasat.com giving 2025 against the 2026 date reported by four other outlets.

  8. Version 118 Aug 2026, 02:58

    No new facts from sources; supplied weather and geographic reference data were excluded because they geocode to Richfield, Minnesota, not the Utah fire area.

  9. Version 108 Aug 2026, 02:52

    Added azfamily.com to the attribution for the NTSB/FAA investigation and noted the sources' differing wording on whether investigators may or might not reach the scene.

  10. Version 98 Aug 2026, 02:28

    Added Sevier County Sheriff Nathan Curtis as the named source for teams being unable to reach the scene, and the fire's location near Kanosh, Utah.

  11. Version 88 Aug 2026, 02:07

    Added firerescue1.com's detail that the helicopter had been working in an area of steep terrain.

  12. Version 78 Aug 2026, 02:03

    Added firerescue1.com reporting that the crash started another fire and blocked responders Friday evening, that firefighting was paused and resumed, and Great Basin Incident Management Team's Tyler Hecht on flying conditions.

  13. Version 68 Aug 2026, 01:57

    Added express.co.uk detail placing the fire on the Fishlake National Forest at 165 square miles, with more than 600 personnel and at least six structures destroyed.

  14. Version 58 Aug 2026, 01:48

    Added the reported warning of potential dry thunderstorms to the fire-conditions paragraph; no other substantive changes.

  15. Version 48 Aug 2026, 01:23

    Added reported red flag warnings of erratic winds, dry fuels and hot temperatures, and that the Sevier County Sheriff did not immediately respond to questions.

  16. Version 38 Aug 2026, 01:07

    Added that the FAA and wildfire officials had no information on the condition of the two aboard, per canberratimes.com.au.

  17. Version 28 Aug 2026, 01:04

    Added that the NTSB and FAA will investigate, that the helicopter was one of seven aircraft on the fire, the Canberra Times' fire-size figure, and the note that investigators may not reach the scene immediately.

  18. Version 18 Aug 2026, 00:57

    First published.

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