Injured firefighter rescued by night-flying helicopter

Saturday night, August 11, an injured firefighter was rescued by firefighters on the ground and a night-flying helicopter on the Ramsey fire on the Stanislaus National Forest eight miles east of Dorrington, California. The U.S. Forest Service will not have night-flying ability until one helicopter comes on board with those capabilities in 2013, but thankfully a Firehawk from Los Angeles County Fire Department was dispatched to hoist the firefighter out of an active fire area.

Here is an excerpt from a very interesting article in the Calaveras Enterprise:

…A large opening was made in the trees by a hot shot team to make room for the helicopter evacuation.

“When the helicopter came in for the rescue, the rotor wash was the biggest concern – stoking fires and kicking up ash and (burning) debris,” Jacobus said. “That was probably the biggest hardship for us to contend with.”

The copter first came in at 4:30 a.m. in the dark and dropped a rescuer to brief the ground team on how the helicopter crew wanted the patient packaged.

“They brought the helicopter in a second time for raise and evacuation,” Jacobus said. “We dealt with some pretty extreme rotor wash both times. It’s like being in the beginning part of a hurricane, but instead of blowing air, it’s blowing hot ash and churning sparks at you.”

We have written many times before about how important it is for a seriously injured firefighter to receive appropriate medical treatment in the “golden hour”. Night-flying helicopters can be very useful for slowing fires at night even more effectively than during the day. But they can also save lives, especially if they have hoist capabilities.

The right thing for the wildland fire agencies to do, is to have multiple night-flying capable helicopters, with hoists, if they are going to fight fire at night in remote areas. In addition, they should have hoist-capable helicopters available during daylight hours, if they are going to fight fire in remote areas (which include, what, 75 percent of the wildland fires that the federal agencies fight?). It is a health and safety issue, not a luxury. I am surprised that OSHA has not cited the wildland fire agencies for their failure to provide this capability. And it is not just the U.S. Forest Service that should be under the gun here. Let’s not leave out the National Park Service, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Bureau of Land Management, as well as state agencies.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

9 thoughts on “Injured firefighter rescued by night-flying helicopter”

  1. I look at it as the amount of and level of experience the helicopter crew has doing it. Take an outfit like Coast Guard, USAF, LAFD, Miami Dade Air Rescue they do it all the time and pratice a lot, No problem. The source list is where one needs to go.

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    1. Interagency Emergency Helicopter Extraction Source List. A good list, but for the most part order/response time is over the 1 hr. (Golden hour) that is recommended to get a patient to medical aid. With all the helicopters on contract for fire, why not have some that are hoist capable?

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  2. Flying helicopters at night is very risky business. When they are used at night it seems as though it is in an urban setting, not in remote areas. I can’t see that it is good risk management to drop water at night in remote areas. In my opinion we shouldn’t be using aircraft at night period. As a helitack supervisor that is a short haul spotter I would never put someone on the end of a rope at night. How injured was this person? The article said they were doing much better after being attended to by paramedics. Was it that urgent to get them out in darkness? Daylight was hours away. How big of an area was cleared? The extereme rotor wash that was mentioned could have easily brought down more trees. I’m glad this had a happy ending. Just concerned we are not using the best risk management that we could be.

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    1. Garth,

      You add great info to the discussion, but to answer your “questions”, I’d suggest you ask them (your questions) to the initial “responders” from the Del Rosa Hotshots and the initial Paramedics rendering care.

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  3. Well said. Wildland firefighter have ask for this emergency evacuation support for years but the heads of all agencies involved, including OSHA have decided it simple costs to much to add it to our annual helicopter contract. Yet they have no trouble finding money for a jumbo air tanker! So where is the priority~~? George Solverson – Wildland Fire Safety Officer Ret.

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    1. Agreed with the above, we waste lives and money in
      Some place like Trashcanistan – and short the firefighting effort here at home . I think that a hoist
      on all fire fighting Choppers (that can be equipped) is a good idea with the appropriate training for the crews…

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  4. Glad to hear the firehawk was able to get him out. Curious though about the firehawks, are they in the interagency emergency helicopter extraction list?

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