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Sheriff's office identifies pilot that died fighting California wildfires

The pilot was dropping water on a massive brush fire from the helicopter before the crash.

A helicopter pilot that was involved in a crash and died while fighting a massive brush fire in central California has been identified as 52-year-old Michael John Fournier of Rancho Cucamonga, CA, according to the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.

Fournier was operating a Bell UH-1H helicopter on Wednesday morning dropping water on the Hills Fire before the crash. He was the only person on board. The Fresno County Sheriff's Office said the crash happened about nine miles south of the City of Coalinga.

Officials sent search and rescue teams of 15 people to search rugged terrain to recover the crash site and the pilot's body.

The cause of the crash is unknown at this time. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the crash and the CAL FIRE/Fresno County Fire is assisting.

RELATED: Pilot crashes, dies fighting California wildfires

Credit: Fresno County Sheriff's Office
Michael John Fournier, 52, a helicopter pilot that died fighting a wildfire in Coalinga, CA.

Wildfires that blackened skies, took at least five lives and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes were blazing through California on Thursday, straining firefighting resources by the sheer vastness of the battle lines.

Hundreds of fires were burning across California, including 23 major fires or groups of fires that Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed on “extraordinary weather” and "all of these lightning strikes.” He said the state has recorded nearly 11,000 lightning strikes in 72 hours and knows of 367 fires.

Three major collections of fires — dozens in all — carved their way through forest, canyon country and rural areas in the San Francisco Bay Area and central California. Tens of thousands of homes were threatened by flames driving through dense and bone-dry trees and brush. Many were sparked by lightning strikes from brief thunderstorms this week as a high-pressure area over the West brought a dangerous mix of triple-digit weather and monsoonal moisture pulled from the south.

Some fires doubled in size in 24 hours, fire officials said.

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