Plane fighting wildfires crashes in Lake Livingston

LIVINGSTON, Texas - A plane that was responding to wildfires crashed into Lake Livingston on Tuesday afternoon. Thankfully, the pilot is expected to survive.

It happened around 5 p.m. as a Fire Boss Single Engine Air Tanker/Scooper was helping to fight wildfires in Polk County, according to Lone Star State Incident Management Team of the Texas A&M Forest Service (TFS).

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The agency was requested for help in the Corrigan area, where multiple new ignitions were caused by thunderstorms that passed through Monday night, fire crews told FOX 26. TFS then sent several, firefighting aircraft.

"It has pontoons that allow it to go into the water and remove water from the lake and drop it onto fires," says Ryan Burns with TFS.

The pilot who crashed was getting water at the lake at the time of the crash. "We don't know if he was actually in the act of scooping water at the time or not," Burns added.

Someone who was on the lake at the time was able to get to the pilot quickly and helped bring him to safety on shore.

All planes that were assisting were grounded for the rest of the evening.