Family of Rancho Cucamonga pilots killed in a forest fire helicopter accident reached a regulation of $ 15 million – Orange County Register

LOS Angeles – The family of a deceased helicopter pilot when his helicopter crashed in 2020 while he was fighting forest fire in southern California reached a settlement of $ 15 million with the company that maintained the plane, their lawyers announced on Friday.

Michael Fournier, from Rancho Cucamonga, made water drops on August 19, 2020 on a hilly and accidental plot when his bright red bell Uh-1 p.m. suddenly plunged into a hill while he helped the hills burning 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of the small town of Coalinga of the small central valley.

Fournier has worked for a private company in southern California which contracts with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, and other agencies to provide fire -fighting and other services.

“The Fournier family trial has asked for answers and responsibilities, and this result does exactly that,” said Andrew Robb, one of the lawyers who filed the trial. Robb said the family would not make any public comments.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the helicopter crashed due to “a failure of the hydraulic system”.

A few moments before the Fournier crash, air traffic control spoke that he had problems with the helicopter hydraulics, said Robb.

Fournier worked with the Guardian helicopters, which was based in Fillmore, California, and had a contract with Cal Fire at the time to provide emergency services. The regulations were paid by Rotorcraft Support, Inc., the company which maintained the helicopter. A telephone message left with the helicopter maintenance company was not immediately returned on Friday.

Fournier’s fury fell into a distant area, hilly and filled with smoke which took a research and rescue team from the Sheriff department of Fresno County almost four hours to reach.

Fourteen team members in five jeeps have traveled miles through sweet dirt under a sky filled with smoke, finally abandoning vehicles to walk the last hundred meters towards the accident site. There, they carefully wrapped the body in an American flag and transported it to one of the vehicles.