By Glenn Kauth
Edmonton Sun
Copyright 2007 Sun Media Corporation
All Rights Reserved
FORT McMURRAY, Alberta — A forest firefighter working for the provincial government is dead following a helicopter crash northeast of Fort McMurray Sunday night.
“It’s a tragic situation,” Doug Knight, president of the union representing provincial employees, said yesterday of the deadly crash. “He was working for us for the summer. I believe this was his second fire season.”
Police aren’t releasing the man’s name until they notify his next of kin, but Knight said his understanding is that the victim was from Quebec.
The incident, which happened around 8 p.m., also sent four others, including the pilot, to hospital, but all have non-life-threatening injuries, said Const. Tiffany Miller of the Fort McMurray RCMP. One of them has since been released, she added.
Arthur Volckaert, an employee with the company that owns the helicopter, confirmed that investigators were at the crash site about 65 km northeast of Fort McMurray.
“Right now, they’re just out at the scene evaluating what’s going on,” said Volckaert, the director of maintenance with Fort McMurray-based Phoenix Heli-Flight Inc.
Phoenix has contracted with the provincial government to transport workers between fire stations scattered across the wilderness north of Fort McMurray.
“It’s been a long day,” Volckaert added.
“The aircraft was on its way from a forestry staging area from what I believe was Johnson Lake,” said Transportation Safety Board senior investigator John Pearson, referring to an area about 300 km northeast of Fort McMurray. As of yesterday, there was no information on the cause of the accident.
“The helicopter crashed in an area of low trees and muskeg,” Pearson said, adding the aircraft was heading towards Fort McMurray.
Dave Ealey, a spokesman for Alberta Sustainable Resources Development, said the crew of four firefighters were all seasonal staff hired to handle summer blazes in the area.
The workers were part of a first-attack crew assigned to put out blazes before they become unwieldy, Ealey noted.
“We’re thankful that at least four of the people were able to be brought out and have their injuries tended to,” he added.
The crew was flying in an Aerospatiale AS 350 helicopter, which was made in France in 1979. According to the Transportation Safety Board, as of April there had been eight helicopter accidents in Canada. In 2006, there were 56 chopper crashes nationwide, causing nine fatalities. For the previous five years, Canada averaged 47 helicopter accidents annually.