A Canadian aircraft used to battle bush fires in Australia crashed in southern New South Wales on Thursday, killing three firefighters from the United States.
Belinda Greene, a receptionist at the Bredbo Inn Hotel near the crash site, said she heard police cars early in the afternoon.
“We saw a lot of smoke all of a sudden a couple of hours ago,” she told Reuters.
The Rural Fire Service said the aircraft was in “routine” water-bombing activities at the time of the crash.
According to the flight data from flight-tracking website Flighttradar24, the aircraft departed the Richmond air force base in Sydney at 12:15 p.m. and dropped off the radar after 2 p.m. in Peak View, south of the capital Canberra.
Peak View is a region close to the burning blaze in the Wadbilliga National Park.
“[The aircraft] impacted heavily with the ground and initial reports are that there was a large fireball associated with the impact of the plane as it hit the ground,” Fitzsimmons said.
“Today again demonstrates the fire season is far from over.”
According to the National Post, authorities have closed the airport in Canberra due to out-of-control fires nearby, and residents and business owners were told it was too late to leave.
The total death toll from the Australian wildfires is 32 since September, with around a billion animals killed.
