"Any death is confronting. "Site mapping is a critical element of this investigation's initial evidence gathering phase," said ATSB Chief Commissioner Greg Hood.
Saeed Khan/AFP file photo
By ROD McGUIRK January 24, 2020 GMT. "Mr Hood said on Saturday that mapping the crash site would be a "painstakingly meticulous" task.On Sunday, the aircraft's operator Coulson Aviation, based in North America and contracted by the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS), surveyed the wreckage. By Caitlin O'Kane January 24, 2020 / 9:57 AM / CBS News
1 of 9 . Crash investigators return to the wreckage of the C-130 where three US firefighters died, while arrangements are being made for the victims' families to visit the site. Your service and contribution are extraordinary. Officials in Australia on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, searched for a water tanker plane feared to have crashed while fighting wildfires. "When we learned of the accident, we took a decision to ground our crew in NSW and Victoria," Mr Coulson said. They were helping Australia, far from their own homes, an embodiment of the deep friendship between our two countries,” she said in a statement.“Thank you to these three, and to all the brave firefighters from Australia and around the world. In this undated photo released from the Rural Fire Service, a C-130 Hercules plane called "Thor" drops water during a flight in Australia. A second fire near the airport that started on Thursday morning is at a “watch and act” level — the middle of the three tiers.Residents in some Canberra suburbs were advised to seek shelter and others to leave immediately.“The defense force is both assisting to a degree and looking to whether that needs to be reinforced,” Chief of Defense Angus Campbell told reporters.“I have people who are both involved as persons who need to be moved from areas and office buildings that are potentially in danger, and also those persons who are part of the (Operation) Bushfire Assist effort,” he said.Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. The four-propeller Hercules drops more than 4,000 gallons of fire retardant in a single pass.Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the national air crash investigator, and state police will investigate the crash site, which firefighters described as an active fire ground.“There is no indication at this stage of what’s caused the accident,” Fitzsimmons said.Berejiklian said there were more than 1,700 volunteers and personnel in the field, and five fires were being described at an “emergency warning” level — the most dangerous on a three-tier scale — across the state and on the fringes of the national capital Canberra.Also Thursday, Canberra Airport closed temporarily because of nearby wildfires, and residents south of the city were told to seek shelter.
"After the plane went down in southern NSW, Coulson Aviation grounded its fleet both as a precaution and as a "mark of respect".Mr Coulson said his fleet has now returned back to the skies to continue its mission to combat Australia's bushfire crisis. We met with the teams here in Sydney and they are back up in the air. "We are a safety-first company. © 1996 - 2020 NewsHour Productions LLC. "They want to do the job they're here for, supporting these beautiful communities in Australia. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/firefighting-plane-crashes-in-australia-killing-3-americans For that reason it's vital we understand the circumstances around this crash.
It said the accident was “extensive” but had few other details.“The only thing I have from the field reports are that the plane came down, it’s crashed and there was a large fireball associated with that crash,” said Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she had conveyed Australia’s condolences to U.S. Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else.SYDNEY — Three American crew members were killed Thursday when a C-130 Hercules aerial water tanker crashed while battling wildfires in southeastern Australia, officials said.New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the crash deaths in the state’s Snowy Monaro region, which came as Australia grapples with an unprecedented fire season that has left a large swath of destruction.Coulson Aviation in the U.S. state of Oregon said in a statement that one of its Lockheed large air tankers was lost after it left Richmond in New South Wales with retardant for a firebombing mission. Firefighting plane crashes in Australia, killing 3 Americans World. The airport reopened after several hours with Qantas operating limited services, but Virgin and Singapore Airlines canceled flights for the rest of the day.The blaze started Wednesday but strong winds and high temperatures caused conditions in Canberra to deteriorate.