Alamo Heights graduate among three killed fighting Australian wildfires

A San Antonio native was among three Americans killed in a tanker plane crash while fighting wildfires in Australia.

Paul Clyde Hudson, 42, was serving as first officer of the flight when the crash occurred Thursday. He grew up in San Antonio, where he attended the private Keystone School before transferring to Alamo Heights High School, where he was a student for two years.

Hudson, known as “PC,” graduated from Alamo Heights High School in 1995, school district officials confirmed.

The youngest of five siblings, Hudson was born in Corpus Christi on July 21, 1977 to Patton C. Hudson Sr. and the former Mary Catherine Gallaher, Texas birth records show. His mother died in 2013, while his father died in 2018, obituaries show.

At the time of his death, Paul Clyde Hudson was residing in Buckeye, Arizona with his wife, Noreen. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1999, then served for 20 years in the U.S. Marine Corps before retiring as a lieutenant colonel, according to a statement posted by Coulson Aviation, his employer.

While attending Alamo Heights High School from 1993 until 1995, Hudson played football and baseball and was a member of the National Honor Society, yearbook photos show.

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He went on to obtain a master’s degree in business administration and information technology management from the Naval Postgraduate School, Coulson Aviation’s statement noted.

The tanker plane that crashed had just dropped liquid to suppress the flames, investigators said Friday.

The crash also killed Capt. Ian H. McBeth, 44, of Great Falls, Montana, and Flight Engineer Rick A. DeMorgan Jr., 43, of Navarre, Florida.

The deaths came during an unprecedented wildfire season that has left a large swath of destruction in Australia’s southeast. More than 30 people have died, including three Australian volunteer firefighters.

Investigators went to where the C-130 Hercules tanker crashed in the Snowy Monaro region of the state of New South Wales. A team was working to recover the Americans’ bodies, Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Greg Hood told reporters.

Hood said it would be difficult to secure evidence and the remains because the wildfire is still burning and the team faces potential hazards such as aviation fuel.

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Upward of 500 aircraft from several countries are fighting Australia’s wildfires, Hood said.

“So, if there are lessons to be learned from this particular accident, it’s really important that not only Australia learns these, but the world learns them,” he said.

Coulson Aviation said McBeth “was a highly qualified and respected C-130 pilot with many years fighting fire, both in the military“ and with the company.

A memorial service will be held Feb. 23 in Sydney for the U.S. and Australian firefighters who have died this wildfire season, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

“We will pay tribute to the brave firefighters who lost their own lives protecting the lives and properties of others,” she said.

The three Americans’ deaths brings the toll from the blazes to at least 31 since September. The fires also have destroyed more than 2,600 homes and burned more than 104,000 square kilometers (40,000 square miles), an area bigger than the U.S. state of Indiana.

Coulson grounded other firefighting aircraft as a precaution pending an investigation, reducing planes available to firefighters in New South Wales and neighboring Victoria state. The four-propeller Hercules drops more than 15,000 liters (4,000 gallons) of fire retardant in a single pass.

Berejiklian said more than 1,700 volunteers and personnel were in the field. 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.

San Antonio Express-News staff writer Peggy O’Hare contributed to this story.