California Helicopter Crash-updated

Tuesday's helicopter is one of the deadliest incidents in the U.S. for firefighters in the past 30 years.

What: 30-year-old Sikorsky S-61N helicopter built in Connecticut and upgraded three years ago--chartered by the US Forest Service fighting a fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The helicopter was operated by Carson Helicopters, which has offices in Grants Pass, Oregon. The crash occurred on taking the third group of firefighters from the front lines to camp. “They went forward a slight bit. Then the aircraft rapidly descended and hit the hillside.”
Where: around 55km northwest of Redding in northern California. Shasta-Trinity National Forest
When: 7:45 pm (12.30am AEST).
Who: 13 people - 11 contracted firefighters with Greyback Forestry and two pilots; four suffered serious injuries; nine are unaccounted for and presumed to be fatally injured. The pilot is at the University of California Davis Regional Burn Centre and 4 others are at area hospitals in serious condition. The nine missing have been confirmed dead.
Why: Apparently the aircraft came down and impacted the terrain and then rolled down the mountain. The accident is under Investigation. NTSB Senior Air Safety Investigator Jim Struhsaker has been designated as Investigator-in-Charge. NTSB Board Member Kitty Higgins will serve as principal spokesman during the on-scene investigation. The Safety Board?s team includes two representatives from the Office of Transportation Disaster Assistance. Bridget Serchak will accompany the team as press officer. A search is on for the flight data recorder.

Update
30 firefighters witnessing the crash and waiting for transport rushed to the crash; two survivors emerged in flames, and one without burns pulled the fourth survivor from the wreckage.

Fatalities
Firefighters who died in the crash were identified by Grayback as Shawn Blazer, 30; Scott Charleson, 25; Matthew Hammer, 23; Edrik Gomez, 19; Bryan Rich, 29; and David Steele, 19. The seventh victim's family notification is pending.The pilot who was killed was Roark Schwanenberg. U.S. Forest Service flight inspector was not identified.

Survivors Michael Brown, Jonathan Frohreich, and pilot Bill Coultas, were treated at the UC Davis hospital. Brown suffered a broken face bones, a broken leg, a bruised liver and leg burns. Coultas is critical but stable condition after surgery for burns covering about 1/3 of his body. Brown and Frohreich were upgraded to good condition and moved from the intensive care unit. Richard Schroeder suffered serious injuries to his neck, shoulder and back but no burns, and was upgraded from serious to fair condition at Mercy Medical Center.

In April, the FAA issued an "airworthiness directive" regarding Sikorsky S-helicopters regarding fatigue failures in the main rotor shaft; and the FAA outlined actions to "prevent structural failure, loss of power to the main rotor, and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter." Carson filed in May that had been six months since the company had ordered parts from Sikorsky which were expected to arrive this month.