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A suspected midair collision brought down one, possibly two, helicopters Sunday that were battling a small fire in the Cabazon area.
Video from over the Riverside County crash scene showed a burn area and, nearby, what appeared to be a blade from a chopper. The wreckage was barely recognizable as a helicopter in the darkening skies of the remote crash scene early Sunday evening.
It was not clear whether the burn area was from the fire or the crash. Other aerial video appeared to show wreckage lying on a remote dirt road, as did closer footage from the ground, with Riverside County Fire Department vehicles in the background.
Officials did not immediately release information on injuries.
The crash occurred in the area of Pipeline Road and Apache Trail, just south of the 10 Freeway near the Morongo Casino Resort and Cabazon shopping outlets.
A KCAL-TV report cited officials as confirming a midair collision, although there was not immediate confirmation that a second firefighting craft was involved. The confirmed stricken craft was contracted by Cal Fire on an as-needed basis, according to KCAL.
An early alert on the crash was tweeted by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
At 7:20 pm, “deputies responded to the area of Pipeline Road and Apache Trail in #Cabazon reference an air emergency,” the department tweeted. “1 plane crashed at the location. The circs surrounding the crash are unknown at this time.”
Capt. Richard Cordova told KCAL that information was being gathered about what had occurred, including the extent of any injuries.
“What we do know is that we did have — we had fire in the Cabazon area [that] this helicopter was at,” Cordova said.
Cabazon is a unincorporated community in Riverside County, about 90 miles east of downtown L.A.
This is a developing story.
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Howard Blume
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