WASHINGTON – A helicopter battling one of the United States’ largest active wildfires crashed while navigating treacherous terrain in central Utah on Aug 7, killing the two firefighters who were on board, according to federal officials.

The aircraft, one of several fighting the fast-spreading Widemouth 2 blaze burning through Fishlake National Forest and the surrounding communities, went down near the city of Richfield around 10am. The wreck sparked another fire, officials said, and flames quickly overran the area, initially preventing emergency personnel from reaching the site.

“No escape routes that any firefighters could get into or out of if we had put them in there,” said Nathan Curtis, sheriff of Sevier County, where the crash occurred.

Overnight, the authorities remained uncertain about the fate of the pilot and crew member aboard the helicopter, which had been working on contract with the US Forest Service, but by the morning of Aug 8 their worst fears had been confirmed.

The National Interagency Fire Centre, a coalition of federal and state agencies, reported their deaths in its daily bulletin.

Officials have not identified the firefighters, and they were still working to determine the cause of the crash. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board travelled to the area but were waiting for fire conditions to improve before they could reach the crash site, said a spokeswoman for the agency, Sarah Taylor Sulick.

In an unsigned statement, the Forest Service said only that it was “an emerging situation” and that “safety actions are prioritised first”.

But as many questions remained unanswered, the fatalities of Aug 7 deepened an already solemn mood that has taken hold at base camps and incident command centres across the West in 2026, as a raging wildfire season has claimed the lives of several first responders.

In June, three wildland firefighters died while battling a blaze along the Utah-Colorado border, and on Aug 6, a bulldozer operator was killed in a southern Oregon fire.

“Wildland firefighting is among the most dangerous jobs in the world,” Utah Governor Spencer Cox said in a statement on Aug 7, responding to the crash in his state. “Today is a painful reminder of the extraordinary risks these brave men and women accept to protect us.”

The authorities believe the Widemouth 2 fire began with a lightning strike on July 27 and quickly scorched more than 40,000ha, feasting on tinder-dry forests and propelled by unpredictable winds. It is the latest large blaze in what researchers say is one of the state’s worst fire seasons on record, with Utah – and the rest of the West – struggling through a brutal drought and sweltering summer.

“This is our third fire to be right at 40,000ha in 2026, which is not a record that we’re proud of,” Cox told reporters during a tour of the fire line on Aug 6. He said the fierce fire season had exhausted emergency workers and spread resources thin.

When the firefighting helicopter, a Sikorsky S64, took off on the morning of Aug 7, conditions were safe enough to fly, Tyler Hecht, a deputy commander with the Great Basin Incident Management Team, said at a news briefing later that day. The terrain was steep and tricky, Hecht said, but it was not unusual for this type of wildfire.

As Widemouth 2 continued to rage, with just about a quarter of the blaze contained, officials were left hoping for rain – just not too much, as communities near fire burn scars are now fearing flash floods and mudslides.

“Really,” Cox said, “we need some help from Mother Nature.” NYTIMES

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Firefighting helicopter crashes near wildfire in US, killing two on board