| SFGate | - |
An air tanker battling a fire burning on the west side of Yosemite National Park crashed Tuesday afternoon, authorities said, underscoring the danger of wildfires fueled by the historic drought that have broken out across the state in recent months.
William M. Welch, USA TODAY
A California state air tanker plane crashed Tuesday while battling a fire at Yosemite National Park, state and federal officials say.
There was no immediate word on the fate of the pilot.
Scott Gediman, ranger and spokesman for Yosemite National Park, said he could confirm that "a plane went down" while battling a fire that began Tuesday afternoon on the west side of the park.
Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said the plane was one of the state's S-2T air tanker, originally made for the Navy and converted by the agency for use as a tanker to combat wildfires.
Investigators from the National Traffic Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration were expected at the scene early Wednesday, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.
He said authorities at the scene report the pilot was the only person believed on board the plane. The plane went down in unknown circumstances, he said.
He said the site of the crash was in rugged terrain.
"Rescue personnel are at scene working their way through extremely difficult terrain to determine the condition of our pilot,'' Berlant said.
The aircraft was assigned to the Dog Rock Fire burning near Yosemite's Arch Rock.
The fire was reported around 2:45 p.m. PT near the Foresta community in the western portion of the park and burned 130 acres in about two hours, federal and local officials said.
About 60 homes in the Foresta area were evacuated as a precaution.
State highway 140 was closed at the park entrance for traffic in both directions.
Firefighters were attacking the fire with ground crews and aircraft.
Cause of the fire was under investigation, Gediman said.
The fire is in a different area of the vast Sierra wilderness from a major blaze known as the King Fire that burned more than 150 square miles to the north of Yosemite in September.
The ST-2 aircraft was manufactured by Grumman Aerospace as the S-2E/G, a carrier-based anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The planes were manufactured from 1958 to 1975, the state fire agency said on its website.
The state has 23 of the aircraft and has used them since the 1970s, although it most recently acquired three newly reconditioned planes in 2005.
The twin turbo-prop aircraft is capable of carrying 1,200 gallons of fire retardant. They are used to dump the liquid on critical areas as part of a fast initial attack on wildfires, the agency says.
FAA records show that the plane that crashed was reconditioned in 2001 and was registered to the U.S. Forest Service with California's state fire agency listed as an additional owner. It carries the tail number N449DF.
The U.S. Forest Service has long used a number of converted military aircraft to use in fighting wildfires, both fixed wing and helicopters. Some of those date to World War II era.
More than two dozen people have died in recent years in accidents involving firefighting aircraft. The government has begun using newer jet planes including converted versions of the large DC-10 to combat fires.
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