Helicopter crash kills four while working a wildfire in New Mexico

Bernalillo County Sheriff's Dept. helicopter crash New Mexico
File photo of Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Dept. helicopter, Metro 2, Feb. 17, 2009. BCSO photo.

A law enforcement helicopter assisting firefighters on a wildfire in New Mexico crashed Saturday July 16, killing the four personnel on board.

“Preliminary information indicates that three Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) personnel and one Bernalillo County Fire employee were onboard at the time of the crash,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement at 12:26 a.m. Sunday. “There are no known survivors. These personnel were headed back to Albuquerque after assisting fire crews with the East Mesa Fire. Representatives from BCSO are on scene along with the New Mexico State Police. At this time the investigation into this incident is in its preliminary stages.”

Preliminary information available soon after an aircraft crash, even if from very reputable sources, is rarely 100 percent accurate. The NTSB will investigate this incident and within a year or so will release a final report.

The helicopter was a Bell UH-1H Huey, N911SZ, serial number 70-16431.

KRQE reported that “BCSO has frequently used its helicopter to provide aerial firefighting and other assistance across New Mexico, particularly this fire season. In the past several days, BCSO used the Metro 2 helicopter to fight a small fire in the East Mountains near Albuquerque, and the Atalaya Fire near Santa Fe.”

The last flight of the helicopter recorded on FlightAware showed that at 1:53 p.m. MDT on July 16 it departed Double Eagle II Airport seven miles northwest of the central business district of Albuquerque then flew east for the next 39 minutes in the general direction of the East Mesa Fire. The aircraft was last recorded in a very remote location 25 miles east-northeast of Albuquerque, 6 miles southwest of Las Vegas, NM at 2:32 p.m. MDT. That was 27 miles west of the fire at an elevation of approximately 7,300 according to FlightAware’s flight data and Google Earth’s topographic data. The aircraft had been slowly descending from 7,640′ for the previous three minutes.

(UPDATE at 3:15 p.m. July 18, 2022: The Sheriff’s office released information today indicating that there were other Metro 2 flights on July 16 not recorded by FlightAware, including water bucket drops on the East Mesa Fire. Its final flight, the Sheriff’s Office said, originated from the Las Vegas, NM airport at 6:36 p.m. en route to Double Eagle II airport. The helicopter’s last known location was “just south of Las Vegas, NM” at 7:18 p.m.)

A UH-1H pilot was killed in Australia February 14, 2022 when the helicopter crashed while working on a bush fire southeast of Pipers Brook, Tasmania.

We send out our sincere condolences to the families, friends, and co-workers of the four personnel who were killed Saturday.

The article was edited to show that upon leaving the Double Eagle II Airport the helicopter flew east, not west.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom, Maurice, Jim, and Gerald.

Santa Fe National Forest gets new acting Supervisor

While the Forest Supervisor of the Santa Fe National Forest, Debbie Cress, is temporarily assigned to the acting Deputy Chief of Staff position for the U.S. Forest Service in Washington, James Duran will serve as acting Supervisor for the next four months. This is occurring while the largest fire in the recorded history of New Mexico, the Hermits Peak / Calf Canyon Fire, is still not officially contained.

From the Associated Press:

Some have questioned the timing given that the wildfire has yet to be declared contained and recovery work has just begun.Forest officials have dismissed criticism, saying the opportunity for Cress to work at headquarters initially came up in January and was the culmination of her work over the past year with the agency’s leadership.

Cress acknowledged in a statement Friday that it was difficult timing as her home state deals with the aftermath of the massive wildfire.

Debbie Cress
Debbie Cress. USFS photo.

The 341,735-acre fire is the result of two prescribed fires on the Santa Fe National Forest that escaped control. One was  a broadcast burn that crossed control lines during a strong wind. The other originated from slash piles that were ignited in late January that continued burning for months. In mid-April one or more of the piles became very active and began spreading and merged with the other escaped fire on April 22.

In 2018 another pile burning project on the Santa Fe escaped months after it was ignited and had to be converted to a wildfire. A Facilitated Learning Analysis found that “communication” and “prescribed fire preparation and risk” were common themes.

Ms. Cress began as the Forest Supervisor in April of 2021. Three months before, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported, she had transferred from a District Ranger position in Arizona to be the Deputy Forest Supervisor on the Santa Fe National Forest.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Jim and Gerald.

Albuquerque tanker base to be upgraded to support Very Large Air Tankers

Air Tanker 910, a DC-10
Air Tanker 910, a DC-10, was photographed June 30, 2021 at Medford Airport in Oregon by Tim Crippin.

Funding has been secured to upgrade the air tanker base at Albuquerque, New Mexico so that it can reload Very Large Air Tankers (VLAT).

US Senator Martin Heinrich announced that $15 million is now available to make improvements so that the airport will no longer be restricted to handling only Large Air Tankers which carry a maximum of 4,000 gallons of fire retardant. VLATS such as the DC-10 can hold 9,400 gallons, while the 747 has a capacity of about 18,000 gallons.

The changes will include replacing the concrete near the pits so that it can handle the weight of VLATs.

The headquarters of 10 Tanker is at the Albuquerque airport. They operate DC-10s but they can’t reload there unless a temporary retardant base is set up on the other side of the airport.

The base has been very busy this year and has often had four Large Air Tankers parked there overnight.