A Canadian pilot was killed in a helicopter crash while extinguishing the bushfires in western Edmonton, the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta.

Jacob Forman, chief executive of Yellowhead Helicopters, said in a statement Tuesday that the pilot who died was Heath Coleman, 48, who was fighting a 175-hectare fire.

Foreman confirmed that a team from the Canadian Transportation Safety Board is investigating the causes of the crash, indicating that it was at the scene with investigators and said that evidence was found inside the wreckage that ruled out pilot error, and instead indicated a serious failure in the helicopter's mechanism.

The Canadian Firefighters Foundation issued a statement today praising the pilot's competence and saying that his name will be added to the national memorial to firefighters who died while on duty in the Canadian capital, Ottawa.