RICHFIELD — A firefighting helicopter carrying two people crashed near a massive wildfire burning in central Utah on Friday, but rescue teams have struggled to reach the site because of fire activity.
About 10 a.m., a Sikorsky S-64 helicopter crashed near Richfield, Federal Aviation Administration officials said in a statement. The crash occurred in the Three Creeks Reservoir area, southwest of Richfield and close to the southeast end of the Widemouth 2 Fire, according to the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office.
Great Basin Team 2 officials confirmed that the helicopter was part of its Widemouth 2 firefighting operations, but the status of the two remains unknown.
Emergency personnel are trying to reach the scene, but Sevier County authorities noted that “fire conditions do not allow access” to it. Officials said the southern end of the fire, nearing I-70, has been one of the fire’s more active sections, while the crash also ignited new flames.
As of 5 p.m., crews have yet to access the scene, which was described as being in steep terrain. Crews hope to reach the scene at some point in the next 24 hours, said Tyler Hecht, deputy incident commander for the Great Basin Incident Management Team 2.
“We’re looking for every opportunity to do that. It’s just based on the safety of those responders to get there,” he said. “Unfortunately, right now, the fire conditions are just not allowing that to happen. … It’s very active on that south side.”
Great Basin Team 2 assumed command of the fire earlier this week, after the fire blossomed in size at the beginning of the month. Seven helicopters were assigned to the fire on Friday, along with 23 engines, nine dozers and nine water tenders among 632 total personnel.
Sikorsky S-64, more commonly known as a Skycrane, is a heavy-lift helicopter model commonly used for firefighting operations with a bucket or fixed tank configurations, according to Siller Helicopters. It’s unclear what caused the crash, which will be investigated by the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board.
A witness told KSL they saw smoke coming from a site near where a helicopter had flown over Friday morning. Photos from the area showed a plume of smoke above a hill.
Hecht, whose voice appeared to crack at times as he spoke, said the mood has been “somber” since the crash. Firefighters took a pause afterward, but then returned to work knowing the threats facing the communities and I-70 in the area.
“It’s not going to change how we operate,” he added. “We’re going to continue to fight fire and utilize aircraft to support our firefighters on the ground.”
Gov. Spencer Cox asked Utahns to keep the crews in their prayers in a post to social media.
The incident comes during the same summer that four firefighters died, and another was injured during a burnover incident while they battled the Knowles and Gore fires near the Utah-Colorado border in June. Three were pronounced dead at the scene while a fourth person died in July, weeks after the incident.
“Wildland firefighting 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.
Today personnel are responding to an incident regarding firefighting aviation near the Widemouth 2 Fire.
Wildland firefighting 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.…
— Governor Cox (@GovCox) August 7, 2026
The Widemouth 2 Fire started by a lightning strike within Fishlake National Forest near Kanosh, Millard County on July 27, but it spiked over the past week, as hot, dry and sometimes windy conditions returned to the region.
It has now burned 106,450 acres and will likely surpass the Babylon Fire as the state’s largest fire this year.
This story will be updated. To be notified about updates, please click Follow This Story below on the KSL app.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
