Incident Name: 1,100 acre fire in Nevada County near the historic gold rush community of North San Juan
Date: 6/29/76
Personnel: William W. Sears, hometown Ukiah, CA
Age: 31
Agency/Organization: Sis-Q Flying Service, Santa Rosa, CA under contract with CDF (now CAL FIRE)
Position: Pilot
Summary:
On June 29, 1976 Bill Sears — the pilot of CDF (now CAL FIRE) Tanker 94 — lost lost his life while flying a fire in Nevada County near the historic gold-mining community of North San Juan. The aircraft was completely destroyed in the fatal accident.
Photo of T-94 and its sister ship when it was Tanker 24 two years previous to 1976. “Another CDF BC” who contributed the photo says: I believe it was renumbered sometime after the 1974 season to Tanker 94 and Tanker 26 was renumbered to Tanker 96. (It may have had something to do with the original twenty series numbers were assigned to the contractor (in this case Sis-Q) and later renumbered to numbers assigned to CDF?
Maps
The Community of North San Juan (if anyone has better lat/longs for the nearby fire in 1976, please send them in.) near Nevada City, CA
{mosmap lat=’39.366520’|lon=’-121.106400’|marker=’0’|text=’Community of North San Juan’}
Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- Concise Information from a TheySaidIt contributor, the AAP and WLF Staff research:
- June 29, 1976, Tanker 94
- 1 killed: William Sears
- Type: Grumman TS-2A
- Collision with terrain (possible pilot incapacitation/ heart attack – CFIT Controlled Flight Into Terrain)
- FAA Tail #N414DF
- News in the middle of California firefights; announcement of pilot’s name
- There is no NTSB information on this incident; use the NTSB Lookup Utiliy.
- Comments from a contributor: This was before the NTSB started investigating CAL FIRE airtanker crashes which may explain why there is little if any information of the accident. I’ve included a photo of it and its sister ship when it was Tanker 24 two years previous. Can’t recall exactly, but I believe it was renumbered sometime after the 1974 season to Tanker 94 and Tanker 26 was renumbered to Tanker 96. It may have had something to do with the original twenty series numbers were assigned to the contractor (in this case Sis-Q) and later renumbered to numbers assigned to then CDF.
- not listed on the USFA Memorial Database
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Wildlandfire.com Links:
Media Articles and Reports.
Photos, Videos, & Tributes
- Airtanker Pilots’ Memorial Wall: Bill Sears
Contributors to this article: “Another CDF BC”, Walt Darran document from airtanker.org, Zac Delwiche
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I was six years old and witnessed the crash of this tanker. I remember it was early in the morning and watched it go down behind a hill for a strike. It never came out the other side like its previous runs. After a few seconds I saw the black smoke rise up from the trees and new something was wrong. I found out later that the plane had apparently struck a tree top with one wing and crashed in front of my drum teachers house. I can be reached at zac_delwiche@yahoo.com for more questions regarding this incident. It was a key moment in my life that led me to becoming an emergency responder. I was also motivated to fight fires as a sawyer for a summer during college because of this incident. I was proud to work with the tanker crews as a firefighter always remembering T94. I will always remember this sad moment from my childhood.