Chopper Crashes In Wash., Sparks Fire

A helicopter carrying four people crashed Thursday, sparking a wildfire in dry forest that prevented attempts to rescue possible survivors, authorities said.

All four on board were believed to have died, Kittitas County Undersheriff Clayton Myers said, but authorities could not confirm their fate because the fire was preventing them from reaching the helicopter.

"Fighting the fire is the priority right now, because it's preventing us from" reaching the helicopter and investigating the cause of the crash, Myers said. "The crash site is up on the mountain. It's not near the main road system. It's above the road system, and there's some washout in there."

Authorities were able to view the crash site from the air by using a Drug Enforcement Administration helicopter, the Seattle Times reported, but could not see the aircraft because of the smoke. That smoke also made it difficult to fight the fire from the air.

"The whole valley is filled with smoke," Kittitas fire spokeswoman Richelle Risdon told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The newspaper reports crash site is believed to be in private forestland. Authorities told the paper the craft was not involved in logging operations.

Myers said the flight was believed to have originated from Boeing Field in Seattle.

The names of those on board were not immediately available. A state Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman told the Times the helicopter did not belong to any state or federal agency.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman in the Seattle area said she had no information on the flight.

The helicopter crashed on the east slope of the Cascades. The fire spanned an estimated 300 acres by Thursday night. No homes were immediately threatened, Myers said.