Utahn killed while fighting Dome Fire in central California

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Ryan Cutter, a Park City helicopter pilot, died fighting the Dome Fire at Yosemite National Park.
The fire in central California has burned over 3,500 acres in six days.
Cutter was known for his courage and commitment to fighting wildfires in the West.

PARK CITY — The Dome Fire in Yosemite National Park has been burning for six days and has consumed more than 3,660 acres. Wildland firefighters are battling it in extremely rugged terrain.

Ryan Cutter, 46, of Park City, was one of the two helicopter pilots killed Sunday while those efforts continued. He was well known in Utah's helicopter community, and colleagues and friends of Cutter are heartbroken and said he was always the one to offer help and support.

As a helicopter pilot, Cutter's courage and determination took him throughout the Western United States battling wildfires.

He was born in New Hampshire, where he was a high school ski-jump champion. He came to Utah to work at the Olympic Park and to ski.

He was an adrenaline adventurer who said his feet were never meant to be on the ground. Parachuting, wingsuit flying, backcountry skiing — the greater the challenge, the more Cutter wanted to do it.

In 2021, a wildfire raced through Parley's Canyon. Cutter and his wife, Nina, were evacuated. He talked with KSL and explained the fire's behavior.

"The lead plane, so, he comes in and finds smoke. And that tanker just drops where he told him to … kind of familiar with this. It's kind of awkward to be on the ground instead of getting called in and being on the other end of things," Cutter told KSL. He had just returned from fighting a fire in California at the time.

As a helicopter pilot, Cutter wanted to save lives, protect property and preserve forests.

He and his co-pilot lost their lives Sunday afternoon when their chopper crashed in mountainous terrain while battling the Dome Fire. The wildland fire community at Yosemite stood at attention as the bodies of Cutter and his co-pilot were brought from the wreckage and out of the park.

"This is some extremely rugged, steep, mountainous terrain that we are working in, which is making it extremely challenging for our firefighters to get to," Benjamin Cossel, of the California Complex Incident Management Team, said. "This is our family, so we've lost family members. The wildland fire service, we're a family. And this is our chance to say goodbye."

Utah was home to Cutter, where he met his beloved wife, Nina. The two were rarely without their dogs.

His colleagues say they will always hold Cutter in high regard. One of them said he was the best among them — Cutter was passionate about life; when you became his friend, you became family.

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Carole Mikita

Carole Mikita has worked for KSL-TV News since June 1979 as an anchor and reporter. Currently, she is a senior reporter who specifically covers religion and the arts. She also produces and writes documentaries for KSL Television Programming that air twice a year during General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since fall of 1998, more than 50 hour or half-hour specials have aired. She and photographers have traveled the world to capture stories about The Church of Jesus Christ, its leaders and members. She won regional Emmys for “Civiilty: Changing the Converation” and “Gideon’s Story,” and has a Lifetime Achievement Emmy. She received both an international Gabriel Award and the National Freedoms Foundation award for her “Civility” special. Carole has also received many awards from the Society for Professional Journalists and the Utah Broadcasters Association for both news stories and the documentaries. In 2018, she received an honorary doctorate from Southern Utah University for her contributions to journalism and the arts. Born and raised in Steubenville, Ohio, Carole was graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre. Carole is married to Neil York, who recently retired after 42 years as Professor of History, early American history, at Brigham Young University. They have two daughters and three grandchildren.