Four people were injured after a small passenger plane crashed into the front yard of a Colorado home.
On Friday, June 7, around 9:30 a.m. local time, the plane crashed into a residential area in Arvada. According to the Arvada Fire Protection District, the plane was on fire after it crashed, and the Arvada Police Department (APD), as well as several other agencies, responded to put out the fire and provide emergency medical care to the four victims of the incident.
Arvada police wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the victims were two adults and two children.
Local Denver station FOX 31 reported that many neighborhood residents sprung into action after the crash, pulling victims from the fire.
“We saw the explosion and the glow from outside and said, ‘Well, wait a minute,'” said local resident Randy Hamrick, noting that he and his wife initially thought their house was collapsing.
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Plane crash site in Arvada, Colorado.
Arvada Police/X
“I felt like he was falling. I mean, it was so violent,” Hamrick added.
Evan Sherlock, another resident who witnessed the crash, told NBC affiliate 9 News that neighbors ran out to douse the flames with a garden hose, and nearby construction workers also ran over to try to help.
“I saw the plane and its wings were tilted from side to side,” Sherlock recalled, adding that the plane appeared to be leaking fuel. “The next thing I know, you see a huge cloud of smoke and I was there in a minute.”
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Plane crash site in Arvada, Colorado.
Arvada Police/X
According to a statement provided to PEOPLE by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigates aviation incidents, the pilot of the 1969 Beechcraft 35 took off from Centennial Airport, located south of Denver, and appeared to be headed for Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport , about 30 miles away.
During the flight, the pilot began communicating with local air traffic control to say the plane was experiencing engine problems. About 15 minutes after takeoff, the pilot — for “unknown reasons” — “did not land at the airport and instead attempted to make an emergency landing on the road,” the NTSB added.
The organization is now investigating the crash, and the plane will be transported to an NTSB facility for evaluation, the agency said.
NTSB Senior Accident Investigator Alex Lemishko told The Associated Press that no one was home when the plane crashed in the yard.
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Lemishko also said the pilot was likely trying to land on the roadway or nearby railroad tracks, which are acceptable emergency landing spots. However, the wing of the Beechcraft 35 may have struck a tree, causing it to skid down the road and into a yard.
“I’m sure what was going through the pilot’s mind was, ‘I can see the road, I’ve got to get this plane down, let’s try,'” the investigator told the AP.
Arvada police did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The NTSB said any witnesses who saw the crash or who have “surveillance video or other information that may be relevant to the investigation” are asked to contact the organization at [email protected].
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Source: HIS Education