An aircraft involved in fighting the Gold Mountain fire near Ouray went down in Silver Jack Reservoir in southwestern Gunnison County on Sunday evening, officials said.
One person was believed to have been on board the plane, but their status was unknown Sunday night, the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. The Montrose County Sheriff’s Office dive team is at the reservoir along with other law enforcement resources, officials said.
The Gunnison Regional Communications Center received a call at 5:17 p.m. Sunday reporting aircraft had gone down in the reservoir northeast of Ouray, sheriff’s officials said. The type of plane was not identified, but officials said they had confirmed it was involved in firefighting operations at the Gold Mountain fire.
The Gold Mountain fire has burned 35,622 acres since igniting two miles north of Ouray on June 27. As of Sunday night, it was 13% contained.
More than 1,000 personnel were on scene to fight the wildfire as of Sunday, according to Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 3, which is leading the fire response.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
