SYDNEY, Jan 24, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Police investigators will join a probe
into the crash of a firefighting plane that killed three American crew
helping to battle Australia’s devastating bushfires, officials said Friday.
The Hercules C-130 water-bombing aircraft erupted in a fireball on impact
in the Snowy Mountains on Thursday as firefighters raced to tackle another
outbreak of the deadly blazes.
Hazardous materials specialists were working to secure the crash site
before air transport safety investigators can begin sifting through the
evidence with police support.
Authorities said three men aged 42, 43 and 45 were believed to be on board
at the time of the crash, which left no survivors.
Their deaths brought the toll in the bushfires to 32 since September, with
New South Wales hardest hit in what the state’s Emergency Services Minister,
David Elliott, called “the darkest summer of the state’s history”.
Flags were being flown at half mast across the state on Friday in their
honour.
At a farewell for 32 US and Canadian firefighters who arrived in Australia
before Christmas to help fight the blazes, New South Wales Rural Fire Service
commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons paid tribute to the three dead.
“We will be forever indebted to the enormous contribution — indeed the
ultimate sacrifice — that’s been paid as a result of these extraordinary
individuals doing a remarkable job, as they have done for years now in New
South Wales,” he said.
Canadian firm Coulson Aviation owned the plane and had been contracted to
help fight fires in Australia.
Representatives from the company were due to arrive in Australia on
Saturday, while the families of the victims were also expected to travel to
Australia in the coming days.
Fitzsimmons said this fire season was proving to be “truly tragic,
extended, damaging (and) destructive”.
Six volunteer firefighters were also seriously injured when a water truck
rolled near the fire-threatened town of Batemans Bay, on the state’s south
coast, on Thursday night.
New South Wales Deputy Premier John Barilaro told public broadcaster ABC
it was suspected some could be suffering spinal injuries.
“You can see clearly it’s tough conditions and our volunteers are going
beyond the norm to try to protect community and lives,” he said.
Firefighters had been battling dangerous blazes Thursday, as strong winds
and temperatures reaching above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit)
sparked new fires across Australia’s southeast before conditions eased
Friday.
A new heatwave is forecast for next week and could fuel a new flare-up of
wildfires. A State memorial service will be held for all fallen firefighters
and others killed in the fires at a later date.