BOISE-- Hundreds of people gathered on Thursday night to honor and remember two Boise pilots who died fighting a wildfire in a recent air tanker crash.
Todd Tompkins and his co-pilot, Ron Chambless died June 3rd when their plane crashed in southern Utah. They were helping to fight a fire along the Utah-Nevada border.
The memorial service was for Tompkins' and Chambless' family, friends and the tight-knit, wildland firefighting community.
The service started with a procession from the Wildland Firefighters Foundation. Crews from the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and local firefighters lead the procession.
KTVB was told a representative from Tompkins' and Chambless' crew was at the memorial service. However, because many other members of the crew are currently fighting forest fires across the country, they weren't able to make it.
"Any guy who is a wildland firefighter is a top-notch human being, especially these two guys," said Burk Minor, Director of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.
The pilots' families are receiving help through the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.
