Two from Cave Junction in fatal helo accident
Northern California crash includes deaths of seven Grayback Forestry firefighters
From our weekly issue dated August 13, 2008
The Sikorsky S-61N helicopter that crashed at the Buckhorn Fire, approximately 15 miles northwest of Junction City in Trinity County is shown. The photo was taken on May 2 at Danville Regional Airport in Danville, Va. (Photo courtesy of Richard T. Davis)
Two men from Cave Junction are among those involved in what some officials are calling the deadliest fire-fighting aviation accident in U.S. history in which nine men died and four were injured when their heavy-lift helicopter crashed in Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
The Iron Complex Fire accident in Northern California occurred Tuesday, Aug. 5. It claimed the lives of seven Grayback Forestry firefighters, among them Steven Caleb Renno, 21, of Cave Junction. Grayback is based in Merlin, near Grants Pass.
Andy Mills, director of helicopter operations for Carson Helicopter, describes the crash for news media at the Grants Pass Airport in Merlin on Thursday, Aug. 7. (Photo by Michelle Binker, Illinois Valley News)
Among the injured is one of the helo pilots, William (Bill) Coultas, 44, of Cave Junction. Coultas, an employee of Merlin-based Carson Helicopters. He is listed in critical but stable condition at UC Davis Burn Center in Sacramento.
He is being treated for second- and third-degree burns on approximately a third of his body, and underwent surgery and skin grafts late last week. Coultas likely will remain at UC Davis for another month, followed by rehabilitation. Family members, including his wife, Chris, have gone to Sacramento to be with him.
Click here to learn more about how you can tell us what you think
Coultas and his wife, who own the CJ Video Mart/Radio Shack store in Cave Junction, are graduates of Illinois Valley High School.
Names of those from Southwestern Oregon who died are listed as firefighters Shawn Blazer, 30, of Medford; Scott Charleson, 25, Phoenix; Matthew Hammer, 23, Grants Pass; Edrik Gomez, 19, Ashland; Bryan Rich, 29, Medford; and David Steele, 19, Ashland.
Other victims of the accident were U.S. Forest Service inspector pilot James N. Ramage, 63, of Redding; and Carson Helicopters pilot Roark Schwanenberg, 54, from Lostine, Ore.
A memorial service for the fallen Grayback firefighters will be held Friday, Aug. 15 at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Central Point. The program is scheduled from 10 to 11:30 a.m. The tribute is being organized by Grayback Forestry and Carson Helicopters with assistance from the interagency fire community.
Advertisement:
Three injured firefighters -- Medford residents Rick Schroeder, 42; Michael Brown, 20, and Jonathan Frohreich, 18 -- were treated and released from California hospitals.
There is an unconfirmed report that another firefighter from Cave Junction was going to be aboard the helicopter that crashed, but that a fellow firefighter went on instead. The two men, according to the report, played “Paper, Scissors, Stone” to see who would get the last seat, as there was one firefighter too many for that particular flight.
The helo, a Sikorsky S-61N Fire King was owned and operated by Carson, a Pennsylvania company with craft at sites nationwide including Merlin. The aircraft crashed on take-off from a remote helipad in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, approximately 20 miles northwest of Junction City and some 30 miles from Redding.
The helo was on its third trip to shuttle firefighters from the Buckhorn Fire to base camp when the accident occurred. Other firefighters on the helipad awaiting transport helped pull survivors from the wreckage.
The injured apparently were able to escape the craft at that point before it went over an embankment, but that has not been verified.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators were at the scene as of Thursday, Aug. 7. Kitty Higgins, an NTSB board member, reported on Friday, Aug. 8 that the cockpit voice recorder had been recovered and sent to Washington, D.C.
Ten interviews were conducted with witnesses who stated that the helicopter rose and moved forward more slowly than normal, Higgins said.
The witnesses indicated that when the aircraft was approximately 50 feet off the ground and 150 yards from its take-off point, the nose struck a tree, and rotor strikes followed before the helicopter descended rapidly.
It struck the ground, rolled onto its side, and filled with thick smoke. It then went over an embankment and caught fire, ending up approximately 1,000 feet from the top.
“The accounts are very consistent,” Higgins said. A full report on the details of the accident may not be available for a year, she indicated.
Andy Mills, director of helicopter operations for Carson, said that Schwanenberg and Coultas were experienced heavy-lift pilots with more than 25,000 combined flight hours.
A six-member structures team spent some four hours at the site of the crash, Higgins said, conducting surveys and documenting conditions at the site. It was anticipated that more investigators would comb the scene.
The fire-fighting community has responded online with an outpouring of condolences and messages of sympathy on Grayback Forestry’s Website blog.
And crews on other current wildfires have challenged one another to raise funds for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. The fund helps support the families of fallen firefighters.
Contributions should include a reference to the Iron 44 Incident. Visit www.wffoundation.org.
Another firefighter, a USFS employee, died in a felling incident battling the Iron Complex fires in July.
