The Lewis and Clark Sheriff's Office and Lincoln Fire and Rescue are reporting that one man died in the Friday night plane crash near the Lincoln, Montana, airport.
Lincoln resident John Perkins was on his porch when the plane crashed less than 100 yards away from his home.
"I saw it and I dove onto the ground because of a big explosion," said Perkins.
(WATCH: Eyewitness recalls fatal plane crash near home in Lincoln)
According to officials, the pilot was flying into the airport to go hunting this weekend. While making his approach at around 9:15 p.m., the plane crashed about a half-mile from the landing strip into some trees.
"Could not really tell what happened," said Lincoln Fire Chief Zach Muse, "Just that there is a lot of debris and a lot of fire, so we worked the edges a little bit to keep it from spreading out into all this tall grass and being a threat to all of these houses."
Officials told MTN they are only aware of the man being listed as on the plane. However, due to the severe burning of the wreckage, they will need to conduct full forensics — including dental records — to identify the human remains that were found.
Perkins says huge flames and debris were scattered across his neighborhood that night.
“I knew nothing had survived when it hit, and I thought, oh my god, I can't even go over there to see,” he explained.
Perkins noted that maybe it was the adrenaline or the fact that he is a former firefighter, but rather than watching the blaze, he sprang into action.
“The first thing was protection for me, so I was watering all of the trees, and thank God I had all the hoses out,” noted Perkins
Since the crash happened after dark, he also wanted to make sure his neighbors were safe too.
“I was out here yelling fire, fire, fire and Julie said 'Oh you are alive! It didn’t hit your house,'” Perkins recalled.
Although Perkins' heart hurts for the life lost in the crash, he believes there is one thing that kept his community safe.
“I guess God was with me,” he told MTN.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. Local officials believe the plane is a Cirrus single-propeller aircraft.
"Because of the complete incineration, there is no registration number available, but we are working with the National Transportation Safety Board and FAA to do flight logs of who was here, who was coming in here, who had a flight plan and things like that," explained Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton.
The identity of the deceased will be released by the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office once they are able to forensically determine the identity.
The full investigation of the incident is expected to take around three months.
In August, a medical helicopter crashed in the center of Lincoln. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured in that crash. Click here to learn more about that event.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with quotes from Lincoln Fire Chief Zach Muse , Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton and resident John Perkins.
