Town mourns firefighters killed in crash

The eighth victim was described as a Forest Service flight inspector, although the agency did not immediately identify its employee. Also killed was one of the helicopter's pilots, Roark Schwanenberg, 54, of Lostine, Ore. Schwanenberg, who worked for Carson Helicopters, was listed as being in control of the aircraft when it went down.

Schwanenberg "lived and breathed" flying to fight fires, his wife, Christine Schwanenberg, said Thursday.

"He felt responsible for making a difference in this world," she said. He used humor to help turn around tough situations among fire crews, and "if they were having a tough day he was the one to step up to the plate."

Both pilots has over 25,000 hours of flight time between them, and the company had upgraded the 30-year-old chopper's engine, airframe and rotors three years ago, said Carson spokesman Bob Madden. The helicopter could carry 1,000 gallons of water for firefighting, according to Carson. The chopper was not carrying any water or flame retardant when it crashed, Madden said.

The helicopter plunged out of the sky just after takeoff, officials said, coming to rest on a steep outcropping 1,000 feet below where it left the ground. The helicopter was refueled just before the crash and burst into flames after it hit the hillside.

About 30 firefighters and other personnel in the clearing waiting for their own rides scrambled down toward the crash site in hopes of reaching survivors. Two survivors emerged in flames, and several witnesses reported that a third escaped without serious burns and went back to the wreckage to help pull out the fourth survivor, according to Kitty Higgins, a spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board.

Four still hospitalized
The four survivors — three firefighters and the co-pilot — were being treated for their injuries at area hospitals.

Firefighters Michael Brown, 20, and Jonathan Frohreich, 18, both were upgraded to good condition Thursday afternoon and moved from the intensive care unit at the University of California Davis Medical Center, according to the hospital. Both were sitting up and watching television coverage of the crash, said Dr. John Anderson, a trauma surgeon who treated them.

"The injuries that they have, I'm optimistic they'll completely heal from," Anderson said.

Co-pilot Bill Coultas, 44, was in critical but stable condition after undergoing 3 1/2 hours of surgery for burns covering about one-third of his body, said Dr. Tina Palmieri, director of the UC Davis Regional Burn Center. He remained heavily sedated and on a ventilator and was likely to require months of rehabilitation, Palmieri said.

Another firefighter, Richard Schroeder, 42, was upgraded from serious to fair condition at Mercy Medical Center in Redding, the hospital said. Schroeder suffered a cracked shoulder and vertebra, said his mother, Linda Parks.

The firefighters waiting to be picked up from the forest on Tuesday night had been working at the northern end of a fire that has burned more than 27 square miles since it was ignited by lightning on June 21, part of a larger complex of blazes that is mostly contained. More than 1,000 firefighters from across the nation and around the world still are deployed there.

Andy Mills, director of helicopter operations for Carson Helicopters, which has a base at the Grants Pass Airport in Merlin not far from the headquarters of Grayback, said they were at a loss to explain the crash. Visibility was good, there was no wind, the pilots were very experienced, and reported the helicopter was flying well.

"This is a devastating blow for us," said Mills. "We are not a huge company. This has had a very severe impact on us. We know between the Grayback people on the aircraft and our company it's been a huge blow to Southern Oregon and I know it's been a huge blow to the firefighting community."

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