West Australian Police have identified the Queensland-based pilot and three young women who perished in a helicopter crash in Purnululu National Park.

Police Media's Greg Lambert said the helicopter was being flown by Christian Cartigue, 40, of the central Queensland city of Rockhampton.

Also killed were 19-year-old Jessica May Cousins, and 20-year-olds Whitney Michelle Dawn Pinney and Sarah Louise Thomas. All three women were from Kununurra.

A 1km-long fire that started when the chopper exploded has now been contained by WA's Department of Environment and Conservation.

The Bellburn airstrip where the helicopter took off from remains closed, and all scenic flights in the area have been suspended.

Sergeant Lambert said rugged terrain in the remote Kimberley location was hampering recovery operations.

Ironman legend  Grant Kenny who owns the chopper company, Slingair Heliwork, is travelling to the crash site.

The crash is the fourth explosion of a Kenny-owned chopper in the past decade.

Inspector Paul Zegir from Western Australia's Police Operations Centre said the chopper crashed about 1pm on Sunday, near the Kimberley-region town of Warmun.

Kununurra mourns

The CEO of Wyndham East Kimberley Shire Peter Stubbs said the death of the three young women had hit his community hard.

"It is a young community Kununurra, partly because it is a remote location and so forth," he told Radio 6PR.

"The young people were well known in the local community, that's for sure. It is a great tragedy."

The crash occurred 12 kilometres north-east of Bellburn air strip, sparking the bushfire which raged overnight.

Slingair Heliwork is WA's largest privately-owned aviation firm.

The Queensland-based Curry Kenny Aviation Group owned by Grant Kenny  bought Slingair Heliwork from Kununurra-based aviator Kerry Slingsby in May 2008.

The company name carries the maiden name of Kenny's wife Lisa. The celebrity couple are former Olympians, she as a swimmer and he as a bronze medallist kayaker.

Kenny, 46, has been a keen aviator since gaining his pilot's license at the age of 16.