A&M Forest Service: firefighting aircraft crashes in Lake Livingston

POLK COUNTY, Texas (KBTX) - A Fire Boss single-engine air tanker/scooper aircraft crashed in Lake Livingston Tuesday evening while responding to wildfires in Polk County.

The Texas A&M Forest Service says the pilot is being treated at the scene after being quickly rescued by citizens in a private boat and taken to shore.

“Residents living in the Bridge View subdivision saw the plane go down into the water and immediately jumped into a boat and went after the pilot,” said Onalaska City Administrator Angela Stutts. “One of them called the fire chief directly as soon as they saw the plane go down.”

The agency says they mobilized several aircraft to assist with suppression efforts on the fires burning in the area of Corrigan due to lightning, but the Forest Service does not own any aviation resources. Instead, they use federal aviation contracts through the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

We’ll update this story as more details become available.

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