Friday, July 21, 2023

A third wildland firefighter (flying a helicopter) died in Canada this week

In Canada's worse wildfire season in history, another firefighter died this week fighting wildfires. A 41 year helicopter died near Peace River Alberta while doing bucket work on a wildfire on Wednesday evening, July 19th. Rescue crews performed CPR to no avail, the pilot died at the scene. The pilot was the only occupant of the helicopter. This is the third death of a Canadian wildland firefighter this year, the third in about a week. A sad shot out to my friends at the NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10 who shared this video on their webpage this morning. May he fly in favorable tail winds, I offer my prayers to his family, friends, colleagues and all who loved him.

Added on July 31st, Fire Aviation published an article on this line of duty death on  July 21st, go here to read the article, identifying the deceased pilot as 41-year old Ryan Gould of Whitecourt, Alberta

Direct link to video from CityNews on YouTube

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