DUNMORE, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 One of the Pennsylvania State Police troopers injured in Wednesday night\u2019s helicopter crash has deep roots in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where he once worked as a state police fire marshal before leaving the post to become a PSP pilot.<\/p>\n
Trooper Jason Mills was one of two pilots aboard a Bell 407 helicopter that collided in midair with a Cessna 150 near Carlisle Regional Airport in Cumberland County.<\/p>\n
Before taking to the skies for PSP, Mills was a Dunmore-based fire marshal who investigated fires and suspected arsons throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Mills eventually left his fire marshal position in Dunmore to become a pilot with the Pennsylvania State Police Aviation Patrol Unit.<\/p>\n
During his time in NEPA, Mills investigated numerous fires, including a March 2019 blaze that destroyed the former Serafina Restaurant on East Drinker Street in Dunmore. Mills served as the state police fire marshal investigating the fire.<\/p>\n
In July 2024, Mills investigated another fire on Drinker Street in Dunmore. A woman was rescued through a second-floor window during the blaze. Mills determined the fire started on a kitchen stove and ruled it accidental.<\/p>\n
His work as a fire marshal also took him outside Lackawanna County.<\/p>\n
In December 2025, Mills investigated a house fire on Lone Oak Drive in Paupack Township, Wayne County. Authorities later alleged the fire was intentionally set using a flammable liquid, and the investigation resulted in aggravated arson and other charges against the homeowner.<\/p>\n
After several years investigating fires across Northeastern Pennsylvania, Mills became a trooper pilot with the PSP Aviation Patrol Unit.<\/p>\n
Mills and Corporal Pilot Bryce Corman were conducting a routine training exercise Wednesday when their state police helicopter collided with the Cessna near the Carlisle airport.<\/p>\n
The pilot of the Cessna was killed.<\/p>\n
Mills and Corman survived the crash and were taken to Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Both troopers were reported in stable condition following the crash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUNMORE, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 One of the Pennsylvania State Police troopers injured in Wednesday night\u2019s helicopter crash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-268886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}