A helicopter battling a Utah wildfire crashes as a blaze kills dozer operator in Oregon

RICHFIELD, Utah (AP) — A heavy-lift helicopter with two people on board battling a large Utah wildfire crashed as firefighters worked to corral an uncontained blaze in Oregon that killed a bulldozer operator, officials said Friday.

There was no word on the conditions of the people aboard the helicopter as officials said they couldn’t immediately reach the crash site.

During firefighting operations in Oregon, 47-year-old Jason Ensign died Thursday while operating a dozer for a timber company. The Wrights Spring fire escalated with “unexpected and rapid growth” and cut off Ensign’s escape route, the local sheriff’s department said.

The fire started on Wednesday in south-central Oregon east of the town of Chiloquin. It had burned almost 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) by Friday with no containment, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Extremely hot and dry weather has caused erratic fire behavior, officials said.

The downed helicopter was one of seven working a fire in central Utah that was caused by lightning on July 27. It crashed near Richfield, which is about 160 miles (258 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Conditions were good enough for a...