"I had flashes of rotors hitting trees and we started to go down," Brown said, but added that he was not certain if the accident actually happened that way or if he imagined it, because his memory is unclear.
"It all happened so fast," said Brown, who suffered broken bones, burns on his face and a bruised liver.
Of his friends who were killed, including one man he'd known since first grade, Brown said: "They are heroes. . . . These guys were all my brothers. I wish they were here with me."
Another survivor, Richard Schroeder, 42, also of Medford, said in a phone interview Wednesday night from his hospital room in Redding that it seemed that the helicopter's rotor hit a tree as it was taking off. He also said he may have been saved by sitting up front.
Ten of the victims, including Schroeder and Brown, worked for the Merlin, Ore.-based Grayback Forestry, one of the largest and longest-established private firefighting contractors.
The company identified six firefighters who died as Shawn Blazer, 30, and Bryan Rich, 29, of Medford; Scott Charleson, 25, of Phoenix, Ore.; Matthew Hammer, 23, of Grants Pass, Ore.; Edrik Gomez, 19, and David Steele, 19, of Ashland, Ore. Officials had not yet released the names of two firefighters, pending notification of their relatives.
Carson Helicopters Inc. said one of its pilots, Roark Schwanenberg, 54, of Lostine, Ore., was among the nine dead.
His wife, Christine, said in a phone interview that her husband knew his job was dangerous but that "it was his passion."
"From losing so many friends in the business, we always just decided each day was a blessing," she said. "Each time we lost a friend, we said, 'There but for the grace of God go I.' "
Among the survivors, Schroeder, Brown and Jonathan Frohreich, 18, of Medford, were recovering well, doctors said.
But pilot Bill Coultas, 44, of Cave Junction, Ore., remained in critical but stable condition at UC Davis Regional Burn Center in Sacramento, with second- and third-degree burns to about a third of his body, officials said.
The firefighters were doing much better.
Brown and Frohreich "have been transferred from ICU to a regular ward," said Dr. John Anderson, who treated the two at UC Davis. Anderson said Frohreich has a fracture to his lower back and burns to his face. Brown has facial burns and multiple facial fractures.
Schroeder had several broken bones, and no burns, and remained in stable condition at the hospital in Redding.
