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RCMP and NWT Fire say three people were on board an aircraft helping to fight wildfires when it came down about 50 km from Fort Simpson. Their condition was not confirmed.
In statements issued just after 10:30am on Thursday, both police and the territory’s wildfire agency said they could not provide further information about the occupants.
They did, however, confirm an aircraft had crashed while working on a wildfire burning west of the village.
“The aircraft was a fixed wing Turbo Commander 960 Bird Dog 104, with three people on board,” RCMP stated.
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“The RCMP attended the site in the evening to launch an investigation and confirm the status of the aircraft’s occupants. No further information on the occupants is available at this time.”
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it had dispatched investigators to the scene but otherwise had no detail to add.
Flight tracking data shows a Buffalo Airways-owned aircraft matching the description provided by RCMP was in the area the agencies described on Wednesday evening. Its last position was recorded at roughly 6:30pm MT.
“Buffalo Airways is working closely with Transport Canada, the Transportation Safety Board, the RCMP, and the GNWT Department of Environment and Climate Change,” the company stated.
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“At this time, we do not have any further updates to provide. We ask that our crews and our company be given the space needed to support the investigation.”
Late on Wednesday, NWT Fire reported one of its bird dog aircraft had been involved in a “serious incident” near the village. At the time, no further information was available about what had occurred.
A bird dog is a small lead plane that usually acts as a command and coordination hub during aerial wildfire fighting.
The planes often fly ahead of air tankers to assess fire behaviour, develop attack strategies and guide tankers.
As of early Thursday, fire FS009 was the closest to Fort Simpson, burning in the Martin Hills about 50 km west of the community. The fire, naturally caused, was reported to have reached 100 hectares in size and was under initial attack from fire crews. NWT Fire said this was the wildfire the downed plane had been working on at the time.
“To support the well-being of our personnel, Critical Incident Stress Management Specialists are being mobilized to bases to help staff process these events,” NWT Fire stated.
Firefighters are also working on fire FS011 between the Liard River and Highway 7 south of the Checkpoint intersection with Highway 1, while fire FS010 is about 40 km north of Nahanni Butte.
Fort Simpson issued a fresh fire ban on Wednesday.
