Pilot dies after firefighting plane crashes working Horse Gulch Fire near Helena
Evacuation orders in place for homes on north side of Canyon Ferry

BY: BLAIR MILLER - JULY 10, 2024 3:30 PM

A 45-year-old pilot was killed Wednesday in a firefighting plane crash just after noon on Hauser Reservoir near Spokane Bay while fighting the Horse Gulch Fire, which is burning just north of Canyon Ferry Reservoir, the county sheriff confirmed.

Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton confirmed just after 5 p.m. that the pilot, a 45-year-old woman from a different country who was flying for an Idaho-based company, had died in the crash. He and the Federal Aviation Administration said earlier in the afternoon only the pilot was on board at the time of the crash. Officials were working to contact the woman’s family before releasing her name.

The crash happened around 12:10 p.m., according to Dutton, the FAA and two witnesses who called 911 to report the crash on the southwestern side of Hauser Reservoir.

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