A Florida firefighter lost his life while battling the wildfires in Australia
A Florida firefighter and two others were killed in Australia while trying to battle the catastrophic wildfires plaguing the continent.
While working in the Snowy Monaro area in New South Wales, one of four large air-tankers, a Lockheed C-130, lost contact with Australian authorities, Coulson Aviation said in a statement. The plane belonged to Coulson, a private American company.
Manned by three American firefighters — Capt. Ian McBeth from Montana, First Officer Paul Hudson from Arizona and Flight Engineer Rick DeMorgan Jr. from Navarre, Florida — the plane was carrying a load of retardant and was on a firebombing mission, Coulson said.
The plane crashed and the three men were killed.
“At Coulson Aviation, we have the incredible job of fighting fires around the world and we take pride in this responsibility,” the aviation company said. “Right now, our hearts are with the crew’s family and friends and our Coulson Family suffering in the loss of these three remarkable and well-respected crew-members.”
DeMorgan Jr., 43, is survived by his two children, Lucas and Logan, his parents, Rick Sr. and Linda, and his sister Virginia. DeMorgan lived in Navarre and served in the United States Air Force for 18 years as a flight engineer on C-130s, Coulson said.
He had over 4,000 hours as a engineer and about 2,000 hours in combat.
“Ricks passion was always flying and his children,” Coulson said.
This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 1:13 PM.
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