Tragedy unfolded over the weekend with the death of a pilot who was involved in the fight against the 36,259-acre Gold Mountain Fire near Ouray, Colorado.

According to the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office, a report was received at about 5:17 p.m. on July 12 related to an aircraft that went down in the Silver Jack Reservoir. This is located just northeast of the Gold Mountain blaze.

An initial report noted that one person was on board and that their status was unknown, with a later update indicating that the body of the pilot had been recovered from the aircraft.

Additional information related to why the plane crashed has not been made available at this time, nor has the pilot’s identity. At last report, the Gold Mountain Fire was at 11 percent containment with 985 personnel assigned to the fire. In recent days, growth of the fire has slowed, though temperatures in the area remain above-norm with fuel still quite dry, thus the potential for moderate to extreme fire behavior continues.

Condolences go out to those impacted by this pilot’s death.

The pilot’s death marks the fourth firefighting death related to blazes that have sparked in Colorado in recent weeks, preceded by three firefighters who died in a burnover event while fighting the Knowles Fire in western Colorado on June 27. The Knowles Fire was later overtaken by the larger Snyder Fire, which had reached 30,202 with 98 percent containment at last report.

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