Firefighting Plane Crashes in Poland, Pilot Killed as Blaze Spreads

A firefighting plane went down over a fast-moving blaze in Poland’s protected Solska Forest, killing the pilot and deepening a fire emergency that had already scorched more than 200 hectares of woodland. Poland’s interior minister, Marcin Kierwiński, announced the death and the extent of the damage as crews struggled to contain the fire near Kozaki in Biłgoraj County.

The aircraft was an M-18 Dromader, a workhorse plane used in forest suppression, and the pilot was described as highly experienced. The fire broke out on Tuesday afternoon, May 5, 2026, in eastern Poland, where the Solska Forest, also known as Puszcza Solska, carries protected status and ecological importance well beyond the immediate burn scar.

The blaze was reported as a crown fire, the kind that races through treetops and is far harder to stop than flames confined to the forest floor. Unusually difficult conditions made the operation more dangerous: extreme drought, strong winds and rough terrain all worked against the crews on the ground and the aircraft overhead. Several hundred firefighters were involved in the response, and police helicopters were also used to help fight the fire as the burn area continued to grow.

The size estimate shifted as the response continued, with one figure placing the damage at more than 200 hectares and another putting it at roughly 250 hectares. That changing count reflects the pace of the emergency as responders worked through a landscape made more volatile by dry weather and wind.

The stakes in Solska Forest reached beyond the crash itself. Because the area is protected, the fire threatened habitat, wildlife corridors and the wider balance of a forest landscape that is important to conservation in southeastern Poland. It also renewed pressure on forest managers and emergency planners facing a fire season shaped by drought and higher temperatures.

State Forests data and recent commentary have warned that prolonged drought and rising temperatures are keeping fire danger serious in Polish forests, even when the overall burned area in some periods has been relatively limited. In Solska Forest, the combination of fire, weather and a fatal crash showed how quickly a suppression mission can turn into a national tragedy, and how firefighting itself has become one of the most dangerous front lines of Europe’s climate-era wildfires.