A Prince George man lost his life last week while battling a wildfire.
Heath Coleman was a 48-year-old helicopter pilot with Yellowhead Helicopters, also working with the Mike Wiegle Helicopter Skiing as a base manager in Blue River, B.C.
Coleman was helping battle a wildfire west of Edmonton when his helicopter crashed into the ground.
According to Bob Sayer Senior Lead Guide at Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing, Coleman worked at MWHS for 22 seasons and loved bringing skiers up to mountains.
“He loved being a pilot. He loved to fly helicopters and most importantly to me he loved to fly skiers in the winter because it was more social than flying fires and flying survey crews and things like that,” explained Sayer.
Sayer described Coleman as a very social guy that loved how happy and excited the skiers were to be out on the mountain.
Coleman was stationed out of Blue River, a community located about halfway between Kamloops and Jasper, but Coleman called Prince George home.
“He was proud to live in Prince George, he loved the mountain biking there, he was a very big mountain biker. I often asked him why he lived in Prince George and he said Prince George is great I don’t want to move anywhere else,” Sayer explained.
He is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and their two young adult sons Danton and Ethen Coleman.
“Everybody loved Heath, he was just one of those outgoing characters that talked to everybody and was kind to everybody and teased everybody. He was a wonderful person to be around,” added Sayer.
The Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing company has organized a GoFundMe page with a $30,000 fundraising goal to help the Coleman family out.
The “In Loving Memory of Heath “Heater” Coleman GoFundMe campaign has since raised over $16,000.
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