Update Monday 10:35 PM
The crash of a North Carolina-based Air National Guard cargo plane that was fighting wildfires in South Dakota has believed to have left 4 crew members dead.
The family of Lt. Col. Paul Mikeal of Mooresville confirmed they were notified early Monday that he had died in the C-130 crash on Sunday. The 42-year-old married father of two was a veteran of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lt. Col. Rose Dunlap of the 145th Airlift Wing in Charlotte says six crew members were aboard, but that she could not yet provide any information about their condition.
The plane went down about 6 p.m. in the southwest corner of South Dakota, where it had been dropping flame retardant on the White Draw Fire.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
The US Forest Service says a plane flying just ahead of the C-130 encounted a severe downdraft.
UPDATE MONDAY 1:10 PM
The USAF now confirms there were casualties among the six crew members aboard the C-130 that crashed Sunday night near Edgemont. A news release from the Air Force Northern Command also says that the other C-130's used for fire-fighting support have been grounded - on "operational hold" as a precaution.
The location of the crash is not being released. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
UPDATE MONDAY NOON:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ An Air National Guard cargo plane based out of North Carolina has crashed while fighting wildfires in South Dakota.
Lt. Col. Rose Dunlap of the 145th Airlift Wing in Charlotte confirmed Monday that six crew members were aboard the C-130, but said she could not yet provide any information about their condition.
At an earlier briefing in Colorado, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Jerri Marr said the agency's thoughts went out to the families of those lost in the crash of the C-130.
The plane went down about 6 p.m. Sunday in the southwest corner of South Dakota, where it had been dropping flame retardant on the 6-square-mile White Draw Fire. The cause of the crash is not known and the incident is under investigation.
MONDAY UPDATE:
Air Force news release:
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - At approximately 6 P.M. MDT, a Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System equipped C-130 aircraft supporting firefighting missions crashed in the southwest corner of South Dakota. The aircraft was supporting the efforts against the White Draw Fire.
The cause of the crash is not known and the incident is under investigation. There are no details on the status of the aircrew available at this time.
MAFFS is a joint DoD and U.S. Forest Service program designed to provide additional aerial firefighting resources when commercial and private air tankers are no longer able to meet the needs of the forest service.
MAFFS is a self-contained aerial firefighting system owned by the U.S. Forest Service that can discharge 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than 5 seconds, covering an area one-quarter of a mile long by 100 feet wide. Once the load is discharged, it can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.
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An airplane dropping water on the White Draw fire in Fall River County crashed Sunday night, a fire representative confirmed to KOTA.
The details are still scarce, but public information officer Pat Cross said search and rescue teams were headed to the scene.
Cross couldn't provide more specifics, but said their top priority is getting to the crew of the plane.
When asked about when he thought they'd be able to get to the wreck, Cross said, "If I knew, I'd be real happy."
Keep following KOTA Territory News for the latest.
Lt. Col. Paul Mikeal (dvidshub.net)
Lt. Col. Paul Mikeal (WSOCTV.com)
File photo - a C-130 drops fire retardant at a Calif. wild fire (Wikipedia)
