A small plane crash near Wetmore ignites fire in San Isabel National Forest.
/ FOX21: Adam Jukkola
CUSTER COUNTY, COLO. -- One man is dead and another is in the hospital following a plane crash near Wetmore.
Officals with the Custer County Sheriff's Office said two men were on board the plane that went down around 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon in the San Isabel National Forest. They said one man was killed on impact and the other was taken by a private vehicle to Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs with uknown injuries.
The plane crash ignited a forest fire near the Greenwood community off of Highway 96 and has scorched about 40 acres. Multiple fire agencies responded to the Mason Fire, including crews from Florence, Wetmore, Wet Mountain and the U.S. Forest Service, which is burning not far from where the Mason Gulch Fire burned five years ago.
"Our focus is, of course, to get this fire stopped. We want to stop the advance of this fire as fast as we can," Gregg Goodland, Fire Information Officer with the U.S. Forest Service, said.
Two heavy air tankers, two single-engine air tankers, a helicopter and about 80 firefighters are working to extinguish the fire that is threatening some structures. However, no evacuations have been ordered yet.
"We're focused primarily on keeping the fire away from the Greenwood subdivision," Goodland said. "We have put the Greenwood subdivision folks on standby so they can be prepared to get out if they need to."
For some residents, the Mason Fires has brought back sad memories of when they were evacuated not long ago.
"[The crash] is right where Mason Gulch was," Autumn Pagano, whose parents live near the fire, said. "We're scared. My mom is packing up all of her pictures, dolls she has made and other crafts. My parents are packing and waiting."
The cause of the crash is under investigation, and the victims' names have not been released.
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