5:20 p.m. MDT July 11, 2021
The Bureau of Land Management has released the names of the two men killed July 10 in the crash of an air attack aircraft in Arizona.
The incident occurred at about noon during initial attack efforts on the Cedar Basin Fire, which is 14 miles east of Wikieup in northwestern Arizona.
Pilot Matthew Miller, 48, and Air Tactical Group Supervisor Jeff Piechura, 62, were on board a Beechcraft King Air C-90 aircraft conducting visual reconnaissance and aviation command and control over the fire. Mr. Miller was a fire pilot with Falcon Executive Aviation, Inc. contracted by the U.S. Forest Service. Mr. Piechura was an employee with the Coronado National Forest. Their remains have been recovered from the accident site.
Often eyewitness accounts are wrong.
But, the Arizona Republic interviewed a woman who saw the aircraft from her home coming down at a “steep angle” and then “slam into the ground.” An hour later she and her husband drove to an area near the crash. They said Bureau of Land Management employees told them they they witnessed a wing fall off the plane in the air before it crashed.
We are aware of four other wildland fire related aircraft crashes in North America this year in a 46-day period, for a total of 7 fatalities:
- A helicopter went into Lake Shastina July 7 while working on the Lava Fire in Northern California. The pilot swam away.
- The pilot of a helicopter that crashed while fighting a fire in Alberta, Canada was killed when the Bell 212 went down June 28.
- A helicopter crashed and burned while working on the Deep Creek Canyon Fire in Montana June 15. Everyone walked away.
- Four were killed in the May 25 crash of a helicopter at Leesburg, Florida.
In 2020 during a 49-day period that began July 7 there were six crashes of firefighting aircraft — three helicopters and three air tankers. In addition, three members of the crew of a C-130 from the U.S. died when their air tanker crashed January 23, 2020 while fighting a bushfire in New South Wales, Australia.
The article was edited to show that there were no reported serious injuries in the June 15 helicopter crash.
