‘We lost a great person’: How a B.C. pilot killed while fighting a Colorado forest fire is being remembered

The flags are at half-mast in Sooke, B.C., to honour the passing of a local resident, Nicholas Dale.

The flags are at half-mast in Sooke, B.C., to honour the passing of a local resident, Nicholas Dale. The 56-year-old pilot had been fighting the out-of-control Gold Mountain fire in Colorado when the helicopter he was piloting crashed into a reservoir. He leaves behind a wife and two boys.

“He was out there doing his best and just so very sad that we lost a great person and an experienced person fighting something, a natural disaster,” said Dale’s long-time friend Adam Gilliver, speaking from Aireys Inlet in Australia. Gilliver said Dale grew up in Australia where he began his flying career. “He loved people and he loved being in that role where he could help as much as he could through his love of flying as well,” said Gilliver.

A social media post indicates Dale had previously worked for Ontario’s air ambulance program prior to 2005. Gilliver said Dale had also worked in Alaska and had decades of flying experience. “He was a very caring, experienced man who loved the job he was in.

It says a lot about the man that he was over there, in another country,” Gilliver said. Dale’s body was recovered by a dive team about 20 feet deep in the water. However, the National Transportation Safety Board in the U.S. said the wreckage of the helicopter Dale was piloting has not yet been pulled from the reservoir where the accident took place.

“I’m well aware of the conditions he would have been in and how testing and trying that would have been,” said Gilliver. Earlier this week, dozens of first responders honoured Dale during a sombre procession in Grand Junction, Colorado. “When I saw all the video footage of the repatriation of his body from the scene into town, and all the people in the street, I realized it was not only the loss of a good friend of ours, but it meant a lot to the community,” Gilliver said.

In a statement, the District of Sooke said that Dale’s death was “...a solemn reminder of the risks faced by first responders and emergency response personnel in all lines of duty, and of the service they provide to communities near and far.” “During times of loss, Sooke is a community that stands together. The District extends sincere condolences to Nicholas Dale’s family, friends, colleagues and all those affected by his passing,” said the statement.

The investigation into the helicopter crash is ongoing.