LAKE CLEAR, N.Y. — Four people died when a small plane crashed Friday night just north of Adirondack Regional Airport in Lake Clear.

At about 6:30 p.m., State Police in Ray Brook were notified that a civilian plane had gone down.

Franklin County Emergency Services Director Ricky Provost went directly to the crash site late Friday night, and details of what happened are still being pieced together.

“We drove in on an old logging landing and walked probably three-quarters of a mile to reach the crash,” Provost said. “I think it was a single-propeller-engine airplane.”

The stretch of woods is quite far from any residential area, he said.

“There is no population within a mile or so of where we were.”

As of Saturday morning, identities of the crash victims were not available from police, emergency services or the FAA.

INVESTIGATION ONGOING

State Police Aviation located the aircraft, which was destroyed and burning, just north of the airport.

“Four persons were located deceased among the wreckage,” State Police said in a news release.

The FAA has not posted an incident report for the crash as of 9 a.m. Saturday morning.

But FAA spokesman Jim Peters identified the aircraft as a Piper PA46, saying via email that it crashed about one mile north of Adirondack Regional Airport.

The Aviation Safety Network carried a brief report, saying “The aircraft impacted wooded terrain near Lake Clear northwest of Adirondack Regional Airport (KSLK). The airplane was destroyed by the impact with terrain and the post-impact fire. The four occupants onboard the aircraft received fatal injuries.”

The plane was destroyed, ASN said.

“Investigation into the cause of the crash and identification of those on board is ongoing,” police said in the release.

State Police Troop B Forensic Identification Unit, based in Ray Brook, is currently processing evidence.

Provost said the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department responded to a fire at the crash location deep in the woods.

The emergency call didn’t come through Franklin County 911 dispatch.

“It came through State Police in Ray Brook. We did not receive any calls on it.”

State Police are handling the investigation, Provost said.

State Police said both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were headed to the crash site early Saturday morning.

‘HALF-MILE OF WOODS’

Tom Tucker, who is co-owner of Tucker Farms in Gabriels and assistant fire chief with Paul Smiths-Gabriels Volunteer Fire Department, said the crash happened west of their farm.

“There’s a huge tract of forest that Paul Smith’s College owns for their forestry program, just east of the Cranston Hill. They use it for logging.

“The crash happened near there, just west of us, in about a half-mile of woods, west of the woods and the airport,” Tucker said.

He did not hear the plane go down in the wooded area. No one at the farm heard the plane crash. And Paul Smiths-Gabriels was not called in for mutual aid to fight the ensuing fire.

Brendan Keough, fire chief for Saranac Lake, was not available first thing Saturday morning.

Adirondack Regional Airport Manager Corey Hurwitch did not immediately return a phone call Saturday morning.

It is not clear if the plane was arriving or departing the airport runway.

Tucker said they watch planes come and go from Lake Clear Airport each day.

But there is no control tower at the regional airport.

“Normally pilots just check with other planes,” Tucker said.

The crash at Lake Clear comes just barely more than a year since a deadly crash at Lake Placid Airport in late July 2014 when three people were killed. Fred Kafka, 63, of West Virginia, was attempting to land when his Mooney M20 went down and burst into flames. His daughter, Kathleen, 24, and one of her Clarkson University classmates, Reed Phillips, 23, also died in the crash.

Kim Smith Dedam writes for the Press-Republican in Plattsburgh, N.Y.