Thursday, July 2, 2015

2 KILLED AFTER HELICOPTER CRASH AT BLAZE IN AYERS GULCH SOUTH OF ASOTIN, WASHINGTON




ASOTIN, WASHINGTON

JULY 1, 2015

UPDATED 8:40 P.M.: A second person is confirmed dead in the crash, according to Asotin County Sheriff John Hilderbrand. Identities of the people in the crash have not been released.

ORIGINAL STORY: A fatal helicopter crash was discovered Wednesday afternoon in the area of a 390-acre wildfire in Ayers Gulch south of Asotin.

At least one person was killed in the crash at Ayers Gulch, about seven miles south of Asotin, according to Asotin County Sheriff John Hilderbrand. The crash was unrelated to firefighting activities, said Noel Hardin, chief of Asotin County Fire District No 1.

The person killed has not been identified. The sheriff's office is securing the scene for National Transportation Safety Board investigators who will arrive Thursday.

Scot Gleason, chief deputy of Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office said the office received a report of an overdue helicopter earlier today. The county’s air posse was deployed and pilots initiated a grid search to find the aircraft. The helicopter was found this afternoon in Ayers Gulch by firefighters.