Airtanker Fighting Yosemite Fire Crashes

A plane employed to fight a fire that broke out in Yosemite National Park’s Dog Rock has crashed, authorities said.

The airtanker went down Tuesday afternoon while fighting near the Arch Rock entrance station.

Fire crews and aircraft responded, and around 4:30 p.m. contact was lost with one airtanker. Emergency personnel were responding to its last known location, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

A Cal Fire spokesman confirmed the Grumman S-2T tanker crashed in “very difficult terrain.” No information about the pilot or any others potentially aboard was immediately available.

 
The tanker was one of four responding to the wildfire in addition to helicopters and 12 fire engines.

Several people in the area reported the downing of the aircraft.

h/t buzzfeed