Authorities have identified the air tanker pilot who died last week while attempting to fight one of a series of large wildfires across Eastern Oregon.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office announced Sunday that the pilot was James Bailey Maxwell. The 74-year-old flew approximately 24,000 hours during his more than five decades of flying professionally, according to a U.S. Forest Service statement on Facebook.
Search and rescue teams located the wreckage of Maxwell’s plane the morning of July 26. He had gone missing the previous afternoon, as many aircraft were attempting to get control of the Falls Fire, a megafire blazing through large swaths of Grant and Harney counties.
His plane was found in a steep, forested area of the fire. The exact location has not been made public. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the crash.
As of Sunday, the Falls Fire has grown to cover an area of about 222 square miles (142,307 acres), but is now 57% contained.
The Forest Service did not release more details about Maxwell’s background, but said he had family in Oregon, Idaho and Washington.
Copyright, Oregon Public Broadcasting.