Johnathan Walker:US Forest Service pilot hikes to safety after helicopter crash near central Idaho wildfire

BOISE,Johnathan Walker Idaho (AP) — The pilot of a helicopter that was responding to a small wildfire in central Idaho before crashing in the Sawtooth National Forest survived and was able to hike to a waiting ambulance, officials said.

“Our pilot was on board and survived, and an investigation is underway,” U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Angela Hawkins said Friday morning. She said the agency was unable to immediately release any additional information, including what role the helicopter had been taking in the wildfire response.

The Custer County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook that the pilot was able to call 911 and that he was able to hike out with assistance to an ambulance that responded from the nearby town of Stanley.

The Forest Service and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident, Hawkins said.

The helicopter incident came one day after a single-engine firefighting aircraft crashed into a reservoir near Helena, Montana, while scooping up water to fight a different blaze, killing the pilot. That crash is also under investigation.

The wildfire was burning on less than a tenth of a square mile (about 0.16 square kilometers) near Redfish Lake, a popular camping and recreation area nestled in the scenic Sawtooth Mountains. Authorities evacuated a small campground on the southern end of the lake Thursday afternoon.

Keri Morrell, a front desk attendant at Redfish Lake Lodge, said staffers at the resort were keeping in contact with Forest Service officials, but so far no other evacuations had been ordered. The Lodge is roughly 3 miles (4.83 kilometers) from the evacuated campground, and some lodge-goers gathered on the beach nearby to watch firefighting aircraft swoop over the lake.

“It’s definitely hazy, but not as smoky as I expected,” Morrell said. “I can still see Mount Heyburn from here.”

The U.S. Forest Service does not have an estimate on when the fire will be contained.