The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Fire continues spreading to the northeast
by Katherine Nettles
In a tragic turn of events, a helicopter pilot died on Sunday while fighting the Gold Mountain Fire in the southwestern region of Gunnison County. The pilot was the sole occupant of a K-MAX helicopter and crashed into Silver Jack Reservoir on the evening of July 12. The Gold Mountain Fire continues to spread northeast, and a new, albeit smaller fire has also ignited just south of Gunnison County in Hinsdale that has prompted pre-evacuation notices for southern Gunnison County.
The Gunnison County sheriff’s department confirmed that the pilot who lost his life was 56-year-old Nicholas Dale of Spoke, British Columbia. Dale was engaged in Gold Mountain Fire suppressant efforts when his aircraft went down at approximately 5:17 p.m. on Sunday.
“The Montrose County Sheriff’s Office dive team recovered his body from the submerged helicopter later that evening, and it was subsequently transferred to the Gunnison County Coroner’s Office,” said Gunnison County sheriff Adam Murdie in a press release issued on Monday. “The helicopter crash investigation is being conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation administration. No additional details of the crash are available at this time.”
Murdie also offered condolences on behalf of his office to Mr. Dale’s family, friends and fellow wildfire-fighting personnel.
The Gold Mountain Fire ignited on June 27 and has grown an additional 5,000 acres in the past week. As of July 15, it had covered 36,965 acres and was 12% contained. The fire first ignited just outside of Ouray and has spread northeast into Gunnison County’s southwestern corner around the sparsely populated Cimmaron area. No additional evacuations have been called for beyond the mandatory evacuations issued more than a week ago in zone 32 and voluntary evacuations in zone 33. The Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 3 transferred command of the fire response to The Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 2 this week as well.
The Elk Fire, which ignited on July 9 in Hinsdale, is relatively small at 574 acres as of July 15 but has also prompted pre-evacuation alerts for south-central Gunnison County. The Elk Fire was 0% contained as of press time.
As dry and at times windy conditions continue across the Gunnison Basin, stage 2 fire restrictions remain in effect and wildfire danger remains critically high. And hopes remain for a strong southwestern monsoon pattern that has been predicted to kick in any day now to bring much-needed moisture to the Western Slope.
According to the National Weather Service, the monsoon generally begins in western Colorado and eastern Utah around the second week of July. The monsoon is usually over by the end of August but can last as late as October.
