The crash site was proving difficult to access, the US Forest Service said

Nine people are missing, feared dead, after a helicopter carrying firefighters crashed at the site of a forest fire in northern California.

The helicopter went down on Tuesday night in a remote area about 35 miles (56km) north-west of Redding.

The cause of the crash of the Sikorsky S-61 was not immediately known.

The helicopter was carrying 11 firefighters and two flight crew. Three firefighters and a crew member are being treated in hospital for burns.

Two are said to be in a critical condition and two are seriously ill.

Firefighting contractor Grayback Forestry, which had employed the crew, named two of the injured men as Michael Brown, 20, and Jonathan Frohreich, 18.

Safe return

Ian Gregor, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the helicopter was destroyed in the crash.

He added that the Trinity County Sheriff's Department was leading the search for victims.

Janet Rabuck of the US Forest Service said that the area was very difficult to access.

"It's very remote, very steep and heavily forested," she told the AP news agency.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said it was "a tragic day for firefighters everywhere".

He added: "The people of California are profoundly aware of the tremendous sacrifices that these heroes and their families make day in and day out to keep us safe."

The firefighters had been tackling a blaze that was covering 27 sq miles (70sq km) of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

They had been at the north side of a blaze burning across the national forest, part of a series of fires which crews have mostly managed to contain.

In June, a state of emergency was declared in California after fires mostly sparked by lightning in dry wilderness areas burnt more than 500 sq miles (1,400 sq km).

A wildfire burning near Yosemite National Park in California destroyed 12 houses during July.

Another firefighter died after being hit by a falling tree while tackling a blaze in the area.



