Helicopter Pilot Dies While Fighting Wildfire in Western Colorado

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Helicopter Pilot Dies While Fighting Wildfire in Western Colorado

The pilot was the only person onboard when his helicopter crashed into a remote reserve during a firefighting mission.


A helicopter flies over a burning forest of trees, with smoke surrounding it. The helicopter has just dropped a payload from the bucket it is carrying.
Late last month, a helicopter helped douse the Gold Mountain fire near Ouray and Ridgway, Colo. Michael Seamans/The Gazette, via Associated Press

By Alexandra E. Petri
July 13, 2026

A Canadian man piloting a helicopter while fighting a western Colorado wildfire died on Sunday evening after the aircraft went down into a remote reservoir, the authorities said. ... The pilot, Nicholas Dale, was the only person aboard the helicopter when it crashed into the Silver Jack Reservoir in the Uncompahgre National Forest near Cimarron, Colo., after 5 p.m. on Sunday, the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Mr. Dale, who was 56 and from Sooke, British Columbia, had been assigned to the Gold Mountain fire, which has burned more than 36,000 acres since it began on June 27 near Ouray, Colo., the authorities said. ... The Montrose County Sheriff’s Office dive team recovered Mr. Dale’s remains from the submerged helicopter on Sunday evening, the authorities said.

On Monday, a nearly mile-long procession of law enforcement and firefighting vehicles accompanied Mr. Dale’s remains as they were taken to the office of the Mesa County coroner in Grand Junction, Colo. His body was escorted about 130 miles through three counties by a procession of vehicles with flashing lights.

Mourners holding flags and placing hands over their hearts stood alongside the highways as the procession passed through towns including Montrose, Delta and Grand Junction. ... The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, a spokesman for the F.A.A. said.

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Colorado Public Radio reported that Mr. Dale was the fourth firefighter to die this summer in the state after three firefighters died battling a blaze along the Colorado-Utah border in June.

Nancy Lofholm contributed reporting.

[niyad]

1. Requiescat in pace, brave soul.

[2naSalit]

2. ...