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00:00 Federal investigators are working now to try to determine what caused two firefighting
00:04 helicopters to collide midair in Southern California. Three people were killed in this.
00:10 CNN's Camila Bernal joins us now. She's got more on this. Camila, tell us what is
00:13 known so far as to what has happened as clearly they are investigating the cause.
00:18 Hey, Kate. Yeah, it's two helicopters. One is an observer helicopter. The other is the one that
00:25 does the water and retardant drops. And we're told they were making progress when the two
00:30 collided. They were working on the Broadway fire. This was around 6 p.m. Sunday night,
00:36 and it was a fire that started as a structure fire, but then it spread out to the vegetation
00:40 and it became a wildland fire. Officials saying that, yes, they were working on this three-acre
00:46 fire. When the two helicopters crashed, thankfully, one of the helicopters, the observer helicopter,
00:54 was able to land safely. The other did not. And so it caused the deaths of three people. This is
01:00 the first three deaths in the 2023 fire season here in California. It was a pilot, a division
01:07 chief and the captain. Here is what the regional chief is saying about these three members of their
01:15 team. We have lost three great individuals, three fathers, three husbands, three friends,
01:24 and we want to tell everyone, well, the sacrifice should not be in vain.
01:33 And the chief saying that everyone should be thinking about those families because, of course,
01:40 they are grieving the loss of their own, the people that put their lives on the line. And
01:46 as you mentioned, NTSB is investigating, so we'll have to wait and see what they say is
01:50 the exact cause of the crash, Kate. Yeah. Camila, thank you very much for that update.
01:55 Joining me now is CAL FIRE Deputy Director of Communications and Incident Awareness, Nick
02:00 Shuler. Nick, thank you so much for being with us today. I know we are just learning from CAL FIRE
02:07 the victims here, Josh Bischoff, Tim Rodriguez, and Tony Souza, who was the pilot. What can you
02:15 tell us about these firefighters and this pilot and how the community is responding to this tragedy?
02:22 Well, yesterday was a difficult day across California as a whole, but especially in
02:28 Riverside County. When these firefighters go to work every day, they don't expect to not return
02:34 home. And yesterday was a difficult day. At approximately six o'clock, they were dispatched
02:40 to a vegetation fire in the community of Capuzon. And just before 7 p.m., there was a midair
02:47 collision between the two firefighting aircraft. The cause of that is yet to be determined, but the
02:52 NTSB and the FAA are actively investigating. Look, these are dynamic situations, and this is
02:59 really driving home what you all are putting on the line when you're fighting these firefighters.
03:05 We see the vegetation here. We see how quickly a fire can get out of hand and how they are rushing
03:12 to the scene, no doubt, to try to minimize what could grow. Do you have any information about
03:22 how this all happened? This incident just occurred hours ago, and our number one priority was
03:32 making the unfortunate notifications to the family that a tragic event had occurred,
03:37 and they've lost a loved one, and secondly, taking care of the other firefighters and their families.
03:43 There is an active investigation going on to determine why those aircraft collided. We have
03:50 one of the most highly sought-after aviation programs in the world. Last year alone,
03:56 we dropped over 24 million gallons of water and retardant on fires, and this is an extremely
04:02 rare event, so it's extremely important that the investigation is methodical,
04:07 but currently at this point, it remains under investigation.
04:09 Can you tell us a little bit about the role of these aircraft? These helicopters were two of
04:16 the six aircraft that were responding to the fire. These are obviously essential tools for
04:23 fighting fires in Southern California. Yeah, you're correct, Breonna. In Southern
04:29 California, or in California in general, we respond to thousands of fires each year, and
04:35 one of the aircraft was a helicopter coordinating aircraft that essentially coordinates the fire
04:40 traffic area for all of the other resources. The other helicopter that fortunately landed safely
04:46 is a water-dropping helicopter known as the Sky Crane that can drop approximately 2,600 gallons
04:52 of water. It's a tragic event, but we are at least happy to report that two of the pilots
04:59 and the other aircraft were able to land safely and were uninjured.
05:03 Yeah, thank goodness they were able to land. According to CAL FIRE's tracking site,
05:08 these deaths that we're talking about are the first of the 2023 firefighting season.
05:15 Are we going to learn more information? Can you tell us when
05:18 we'll learn more information about what happened and about the lives lost?
05:23 Yeah, the lives lost are a story that will continue not only at fire stations around the state,
05:34 but in memory of the families, and that's something important to remember.
05:39 In regards to the investigation itself, we're going to look to the experts who are the FAA and
05:45 the NTSB to provide us guidance, and we will fully cooperate and support that as the safety of not
05:52 only our aviation fleet, but our firefighters on the ground are our number one priority.
05:55 Nick, thank you so much for taking time with us today. We're so sorry for what you and the
06:02 entire CAL FIRE community and these families are going through as you continue to fight fires
06:08 during such a critical time in California. Thank you for your time and thank you for covering the story.