The three American flight crew members who died when their water tanker crashed in southeastern Australia were part of the crew on a California-based aircraft.
Gov. Gavin Newsom made the announcement in a statement today that did not identify the dead crewmembers, whom he called heroes.
Canada-based Coulson Aviation says one of its large tanker aircraft was lost after it left Richmond in New South Wales with retardant for a firebombing mission.