Plane fighting wildfires in Northwest Territories goes down with three on board
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Three people were involved in a plane crash 50 km from Fort Simpson – west of Yellowknife – while fighting wildfires Wednesday night.
Neither the RCMP nor NWT Fire confirmed if anyone on board the plane that was coordinating suppression efforts on a blaze in the Marten Hills area survived the crash.
“We can now confirm that the serious incident involving a Bird Dog aircraft near Fort Simpson was a crash,” NWT Fire said on its Facebook page. “Three people were onboard the aircraft. The aircraft was supporting wildfire suppression efforts on fire FS009-26.”
Out of control
Buffalo Airways said in a Facebook post that it was operating a Turbo Commander 690 on Wednesday that was involved in an incident.
“On June 24 a Buffalo Airways Turbo Commander 690 aircraft, operating as a bird dog during wildfire operations, was involved in an incident,” the company said on Facebook. “Buffalo Airways is working closely with Transport Canada, the Transportation Safety Board, the RCMP, and the GNWT Department of Environment and Climate Change.”
The RCMP says officers did reach the crash site and are investigating.
A Transportation Safety Board team is also involved.
Wildfire sparked Tuesday
“We ask that our crews and our company be given the space needed to support the investigation,” Buffalo Airways stated in a Thursday morning post online.
The fire began on Tuesday.
According to the territorial government’s website, the naturally caused blaze was about 100 hectares (247.105 acres), located in the Dehcho region. The government website also reported on Thursday afternoon that the fire was “out of control.”