Man enters plea in two fire crew deaths
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From Times Wire Reports
A man has pleaded not guilty to arson and murder in the deaths of an air crew that died when their plane went down in a remote Central Valley canyon while surveying a forest fire.
Patrick Ryan Courtney, 29, was arrested last week and accused of setting a fire that was being observed from the air by a crew working for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Battalion Chief Robert Stone and pilot Sandy Willett died Sept. 6 when their plane crashed in the Tulare County foothills.
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