Napa Atlas Fire Hero Critically Injured In Dramatic Helicopter Emergency Landing

NAPA VALLEY, CA — The pilot critically injured Monday when a helicopter crashed onto a Sacramento highway is Chad Millward, an aviator who received a Medal of Valor for saving lives during the Atlas Fire in Napa County.

Millward was a retired CHP officer and pilot.

The EC-130 aircraft he was piloting had just dropped off a patient at a hospital when it experienced an “in-air emergency” and went down shortly after 7 p.m. Monday on U.S. Highway 50 at 59th Street, according to authorities.

Millward managed to miss every single driver on Highway 50 when the helicopter came crashing down, according to reports.

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Millward, Paramedic Margaret "DeDe" Davis, and flight nurse Susan "Suzie" Smith were transported to UC Davis Medical Center, according to REACH Air Medical Services, which operated the helicopter.

Smith's condition was unstable on Wednesday.

Millward and Davis are reported to be in critical but stable condition, according to the company.

In 2018, Millward received a Medal of Valor from then-Governor Jerry Brown during the Atlas Fire in Napa County. The Fire burned more than 50,000 acres and destroyed over 400 structures.

Millward was a CHP Northern Division helicopter pilot when he and three fellow officers landed amid the firestorm to lift a woman eight months pregnant and others to safety.

"The officers faced grueling and physically demanding conditions for more than six continuous hours in complete darkness as they conducted multiple dangerous flights behind the fire line while smoke, ash, and embers blew around them," the judges noted. "With great risk to his own safety, Officer Millward went above and beyond the call of duty, saving 15 lives."

Claudia Rogers, a longtime family friend of Millward, told reporters that Willard was always busy serving others — whether through his work, church, or family, KCRA reported.

“He was always working — if he wasn’t at church or with his family and doing all that — he was working,” Rogers said.

Rogers said Millward’s humility stood out most.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.