Pilot of crashed air tanker in eastern Oregon identified

The pilot of an air tanker that died Thursday night while working near the Falls Fire in eastern Oregon was identified Sunday as 74-year-old man contracted by the Bureau of Land Management out of Burns .

James Bailey Maxwell had 54 years flying experience and had logged about 24,000 hours of flight time, the BLM said.

Maxwell is survived by family members in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, the BLM said.

"The Maxwell family and firefighters are grateful for the support being expressed throughout the community and online," the agency said. "Services have not been announced at this time and the family asks for privacy while they mourn."

The single engine Air Tractor 802A that Maxwell was flying disappeared over the Malheur National Forest while assisting on a lightning start in the vicinity of the Falls Fire. The BLM said a single engine airtanker, or SEAT, can deliver up to 800 gallons of fire retardant or water to wildland firefighters on the ground.

The BLM said contact was lost with the aircraft around 7 p.m. Thursday. The plane wreckage was located Friday near Seneca in a steep and forested area, according to a BLM spokesperson.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

The eastern side of the state has seen some of most extreme wildfire weather this season. The Durkee Fire, burning in eastern Oregon, created its own weather system, closed part of Interstate 84 and is the largest fire burning in the United States .

More than 900,000 acres already have burned in the state during a very active wildfire season. The number of acres burned this season is close to the total for 2020, when the Labor Day wildfires devastated the state.

Six firefighting deaths in Oregon since 2020

Maxwell's death is the sixth firefighting death in Oregon since 2020. The other incidents included:

• In 2023, firefighter Benjamin Charles Sapper, 21, was killed in a car crash while working the Flat Fire near Powers.

• In 2023, Collin Hagan, a hot shot firefighter from Colorado, died Aug. 10 after being struck by a tree on the Big Swamp Fire burning near Oakridge.
• In 2022, Logan Taylor, 25, of Talent, died after being struck by a tree on the Rum Creek Fire, located north of Galice and above the Rogue River in southwest Oregon.

• In 2021, Frumencio Ruiz Carapia, 56, who was working on the eastern edge of the Gales Fire, near Oakridge, died when he was hit by a tree .

• In August 2020, Thomas Duffy, 40, a pilot who was dropping water on the White River Fire near Mount Hood, died when his helicopter crashed .

Statesman Journal reporter Isabel Funk and intern Elliott Deins contributed to this report.

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 16 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast . He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Pilot of crashed air tanker in eastern Oregon identified