From pickleball to plane crash: Volunteer firefighters response to on-site fire [Video]

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) – Ester Volunteer Fire Department (EVFD) Battalion Chief Russell Dennis was playing pickleball at the Big Dipper Ice Arena Tuesday when he got the call about the fatal Douglas C-54 plane crash on the Tanana River.

In the Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB), EVFD is the department best equipped for a certain kind of response.

“We have some snowmachines, some side-by-sides that are capable of getting down to that scene where no one else really was, other than by foot,” Dennis said.

The Alaska Air Fuels plane had slid across the ice into the bank of the Tanana River at 10 a.m., about 45 minutes before the battalion chief received notification. The crash killed both pilots aboard and set about two acres of the hillside near Kallenberg Road ablaze. The aircraft had been carrying 3,200 gallons of No. 1 Heating Fuel to Kobuk, Alaska.

About an eighth …