Bodies of two U.S. firefighters killed in Australia sent home
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[February 05, 2020]
By Byron Kaye
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The bodies of two U.S.
firefighters killed battling Australian blazes were sent home on
Wednesday in emotional ceremonies attended by officials and relatives.
Mourners gathered on the tarmac at Sydney Airport to see off Captain Ian
H. McBeth, 44, of Great Falls, Montana, and First Officer Paul Clyde
Hudson, 42, of Buckeye, Arizona, as their flag-draped caskets were
lifted into aircraft for the journey home.
Fire trucks were parked nearby with their emergency lights flashing.
The men and a third American, flight engineer Rick A. DeMorgan Jr, 43,
of Navarre, Florida, were killed in a plane crash in remote bushland
while battling fires on Jan. 23, in one of the deadliest days of
Australia's most destructive bushfire season in a generation.
The three were among hundreds of North American firefighters who joined
an international effort to tackle the fires that have killed eight
firefighters and 33 people in total.
As searing temperatures and strong winds subsided, and weather
forecasters predicted several days of rain, Australia has turned its
attention to the emotional toll after months of near-constant emergency
warnings and toxic smoke across the southeast.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison suspended the first day of parliament
after the summer break on Tuesday to lead a tribute to fire victims.
On Wednesday, senior U.S. embassy officials along with top Australian
fire and emergency service officers stood at attention alongside
relatives of the men as hearses slowly crossed the tarmac to the planes
which would carry them home.
Representatives of Coulson Aviation, the private Canadian company that
employed the trio and owned the C-130 tanker which crashed, were at the
ceremonies.
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![](../images/020520pics/news_r33.jpg)
The repatriation ceremony for Paul Hudson, U.S. firefighter who died
in a air tanker crash in Cooma, while fighting the bushfires, in
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia February 5, 2020 in this picture
obtained from social media. SYDNEY AIRPORT/via REUTERS
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The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the crash
which occurred after the air tanker dumped retardant on a huge
wildfire in mountains in a national park south of Canberra, the
capital.
The third man killed in the crash, DeMorgan, would be honored at a
ceremony at a military base north of Sydney on Saturday before his
remains were returned home.
(Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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