A pilot and one crew member have been killed after their firefighting helicopter crashed while battling a large wildfire in central Utah, officials confirmed on Saturday. The Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane, operated by Helicopter Transport Services under contract with the US Forest Service, went down at around 10am local time on Friday near Richfield — a city roughly 160 miles (250km) south of Salt Lake City — in the Three Creeks Reservoir area close to the southeastern edge of the Widemouth 2 fire.

Extreme fire conditions and steep terrain initially prevented rescue teams from reaching the wreckage for more than 24 hours. The crash itself ignited a new blaze that spread to merge with the existing fire, further complicating access. Ground crews attempted an immediate response but, without a safe zone, incident commanders determined it was too dangerous to send in teams until conditions improved. The bodies were recovered on Saturday, though the names of the deceased have not yet been released. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were travelling to Richfield as of Friday; officials cautioned that determining the cause of the crash could take a year or more.

The Widemouth 2 fire began on July 27 from a lightning strike in Fishlake National Forest — a federally managed woodland in south-central Utah — and has since burned more than 114,000 acres (46,000 hectares), placing it on course to become Utah's largest wildfire of the year. Containment stood at 24 percent as of Saturday, with officials warning of extreme fire behaviour including crowning, where flames spread through the tops of trees, and long-range spotting, where embers are carried ahead of the main fire to start new ignitions.

Despite the tragedy, firefighting operations continued. Deputy incident commander Tyler Hecht said crews took a brief tactical pause after the crash before resuming work.