A firefighting aircraft crashed into a reservoir on Sunday while battling a wildfire in Colorado, a mountainous state in the western United States that experiences frequent wildfires during the summer months. 

Dive teams were deployed afterward to search the water for a possible occupant.

The Gunnison County Sheriff's Office, the local authority handling the incident, has not yet confirmed whether the downed aircraft was a fixed-wing plane or a helicopter. 

In a news release issued Sunday night, the office said it appeared only one person had been on board, and that person's status remains unknown.

According to the sheriff's office, the aircraft went down at 5:17 p.m. local time while taking part in operations against a blaze known as the Gold Mountain Fire. 

The crash occurred at Silver Jack Reservoir, located in the mountainous southwestern part of Gunnison County, several hundred kilometres from the state capital, Denver.

The Gold Mountain Fire began in late June and remains only 5% contained. According to InciWeb, the United States' national wildfire information system, the fire has so far burned more than 35,601 acres (roughly 14,000 hectares). The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined.

Mandatory evacuations remain in effect in some areas east and northeast of the nearby town of Ouray, though no evacuations have been ordered within the town itself.

Search and rescue efforts at the reservoir were continuing as of Sunday night. 

Source: CBS News