Search crews recovered a single-engine helicopter that crashed into Beaver Lake near Whitefish while battling a small fire Tuesday night.
Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said the aircraft was found in one piece roughly 60 feet underwater.
Curry said there was minimal fuel leakage in the lake.
“We were able to contain any potential environmental damage,” he said.
Crews spent most of Wednesday searching for the downed aircraft before locating it later that afternoon. A crane was brought in to fish it out, Curry said. Former Flathead County Undersheriff Jordan White was piloting the aircraft at the time of the crash. He was uninjured in the accident.
White, the executive director of Two Bear Air, was dropping buckets of water onto a small fire on property owned by Michael Goguen, a venture capitalist and philanthropist who funds Two Bear Air.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash.