GÉNÉRAC, FRANCE – A Securité Civile Conair S-2 Turbo Firecat firefighting plane has crashed this afternoon shortly after 5:00 PM Local Time in the area of Générac in France. The pilot was killed in the tragic crash, while battling the fires in the area.

🔴🔴 INFORMATION DRAMATIQUE : CRASH D'UN AVION BOMBARDIER D'EAU 🔴🔴

Il y a plusieurs minutes que nous avons reçu l'information mais nous souhaitions la vérifier avant de la publier. Un canadair s'est écrasé sur l'incendie de Générac.
Vidéo: Julien Lea Coste pour @MeteoLanguedoc pic.twitter.com/o6kViCw5Dk

— Météo Languedoc (@MeteoLanguedoc) August 2, 2019

The pilot of the Firecat (former Grumman S-2 Tracker from the Canadian Navy) was fighting one of the three new fires which started Friday morning in Southern France.

The fires were observed simultaneously in the area by firefighters. By early afternoon, the largest of them had already covered an area of 80 hectares.

“A Tracker of the Sécurité Civil (Civil Security) just crashed on the ground in Générac. My first thoughts are with the family and the comrades of this Fire Soldier, dedicated to protect us, with infinite bravery. An immense sadness is surrounding us all tonight,” the French Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner tweeted earlier on Friday evening.

It’s unclear at this moment what caused the tragic accident today.

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(Top photo: Jerry Gunner CC BY 2.0)