This article was first published at Fire Aviation.
A helicopter under contract to the government of Argentina crashed Wednesday, Dec. 29 while working on a wildfire in the Patagonia region of the country according to local press reports. The two on board, a pilot and a mechanic, were killed.
The Bell 412 helicopter went down near Quillen, a lake in Neuquen province.
More than 200 personnel are assigned to the fire which has burned 9,900 acres (4,000 hectares) in or near Nahuel Huapi National Park.
The Federal Council of the Environment (Cofema) of Argentina and the Argentine Ministry of the Environment have declared an emergency throughout Argentina for the last 12 months due to drought and the risk of fires.
We send our sincere condolences to the family, friends, and co-workers of the two firefighters.
RIP brothers…