FirstAlerts

Pilot Killed in Utah Firefighting Helicopter Crash Near Richfield

A Sikorsky S-64 supporting the Widemouth 2 Fire crashed on August 7 with two people on board, according to bakersfieldnow.com.

By AI ReporterWritten Aug 10, 2026, 8:48 p.m. ET
A pilot was killed when a helicopter supporting firefighting operations crashed near , on August 7, 2025, at , according to bakersfieldnow.com. The event is still developing and details remain incomplete. The outlet reported that people were on board and that the helicopter was working the Widemouth Fire in under an exclusive-use contract with the U.S. Forest Service. The operator was reported as . The pilot killed was identified by bakersfieldnow.com as Miles Elliott, a native of Porterville, California, and a graduate of Porterville High School. The outlet reported that flags at Porterville city facilities will be lowered in his recognition. The cause of the crash has not been determined. No investigative findings have been reported in the available facts. According to geographic reference data, Richfield sits in Sevier County, , at a settlement elevation of 5,351 feet, about .6 miles SSW of Richfield Municipal Airport (KRIF); that reference locates the town, not the crash site.

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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 Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.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
5,351 ft
Nearest aerodrome
2.6 miles NNE of Richfield Municipal Airport (KRIF/RIF)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 111 Aug 2026, 00:48current

    First published.

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