Four National Guardsmen Killed In C-130 Crash While Fighting South Dakota Blaze

MAFFs equipped C-130 dropping retardant on Colorado's Waldo Creek fire in June- Hyoung Chang Photo via Denver Post

An Air National Guard C-130 specially equipped to drop water or retardant on wildfires crashed while battling a blaze in the Black Hills region of South Dakota over the weekend, killing at least four crewmen.

Those killed in the crash have been identified as Lt. Col. Paul K. Mikeal, 42, of Mooresville, Maj. Joseph M. McCormick, 36, of Belmont, Maj. Ryan S. David, 35, of Boone, and Senior Master Sgt. Robert S. Cannon, 50. Two other crew members were seriously injured in the crash, but military officials have declined to identify them. The aircraft was from the North Carolina Air National Guard's Charlotte-based 145th Airlift Wing.

The crash prompted the grounding of six other MAFFs-equipped C-130 Hercules aircraft deployed to combat wildfires throughout the Western United States, although they were cleared to take off again by Tuesday afternoon.

Citing favorable a favorable shift in the wind, officials estimated that the White Draw fire north of Edgemont, SD was 50% contained by Tuesday.

With the crash and subsequent grounding of the MAFFS-euipped C-130s [Modular Airborne Firefighting System], there were less than a dozen fixed wing aircraft available to combat wildfires that have been sparked in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Daktoa, Utah, Airzona, New Mexico and Nevada. The nation's already-dwindling firefighting aircraft fleet was down to just 9 fixed wing aircraft after a deadly plane crash near the Nevada-Utah in June killed two crew members, a P2V tanker made a crash landing at a northern Nevada airport and another P2V was taken out of commission after large cracks were discovered in the airframe.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, evacuation orders were lifted for some parts of the city as fire officials said the devestating Waldo Canyon fire was around 70% contained. The fire, which began in a national forest about 11 days ago, destroyed about 350 homes in the Colorado Springs area and is the costliest wildfire in the history of Colorado.