Sheriff: Passenger Attempted To Save Pilot After Crash

WETMORE, Colo. (CBS4) - The pilot who died Sunday in a small plane crash that sparked a forest fire has been identified as a man from Oklahoma.

The coroner in Custer County said Sidney Emmert, 50, crashed his plane Sunday afternoon near the town of Wetmore, west of Pueblo. Emmert was flying with Colorado resident Robert Hamilton, who survived.

The sheriff's department told CBS4 partner KKTV Hamilton tried to pull Emmert out of the plane after the crash but the flames got too intense.

Those flames then triggered the start of a wildfire, which has burned at least 154 acres. A subdivision is on standby to evacuate if flames spread. The fire was 25 percent contained on Monday evening.

People could see the plume of smoke from the fire for miles.

Hamilton was treated and released from a Colorado Springs hospital for unknown injuries. Hamilton is a physician.

The Associated Press reported that "federal aviation records indicate the plane was a Boeing B75N1, a single-engine acrobatic aircraft built in 1941. No phone listing could be found for the registered owner, Quetzal Limited Partnership of Oklahoma City."