A helicopter assisting in fighting the Dome fire in Yosemite national park crashed on Sunday afternoon

Two helicopter pilots died while fighting a fire in Yosemite national park on Sunday afternoon.

The pilots were conducting water drops over the Dome fire, which had burned more than 3,000 acres since it ignited last week, when their helicopter crashed around 3pm, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Los Angeles NBC anchor Colleen Williams confirmed on air that the station's helicopter had crashed on 16 September. The crash occurred while the team was covering a traffic collision. Aerial photojournalist Eliana Moreno, pilot George Marciniw and one person on the ground died in the crash.