rescue Archives - Fire Aviation

Alberta man charged for end-running evacuation zone

Kelly Andersson23. May 2023Helicoptersevacuation, helicopter, rescueLeave a comment

For weeks, Alberta Wildfire officials have begged people to stay away from evacuation zones, and now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will charge a man who ignored those warnings and had to be rescued when he became trapped by flames. RCMP said that Friday afternoon in the Fox Creek area, a 72,830-hectare fire that’s part of the Eagle Complex trapped a man who became stranded northwest of Fox Creek. GlobalNews.ca reported that police were called at 2:45 p.m. about a man stranded, where he had attempted to use a gravel road to get around an evacuation zone checkpoint. Because of active fire in the area, police said it was not safe for first responders to go in and rescue the man — so a forestry helicopter flew in and airlifted him to safety.

On Sunday, RCMP said they are seeking to lay common nuisance charges against the man for diverting firefighting resources.

“Alberta RCMP continue to be deployed with specialized units to assist with public safety and crime reduction efforts during these fires,” said district advisory NCO Staff Sgt. Neal Fraser in a statement. The man’s name was not yet released; RCMP expected details to come later this week. On Monday, Alberta Wildfire said the fire near Fox Creek is still burning out of control but hasn’t grown toward the community in the past day.

Rain was expected late Monday. The province said firefighters are taking advantage of the quieter fire behavior to reinforce a fire guard west of Fox Creek and to build a new line along the southern edge of an excursion that crossed Highway 43 north of Fox Creek. Heavy equipment is also working on fire guards, to remove hazardous rotten trees that pose a risk to both firefighters and area residents. As of Monday, there were 164 provincial wildland firefighters and support personnel working the fire, along with a structural protection unit and the Fox Creek Fire Department.

Also helping were firefighters from Colorado and New Brunswick, and about 100 soldiers from 1 Combat Engineer Regiment out of CFB Edmonton.

There were also 17 helicopters working on the Eagle Complex, including two heavy helicopters dedicated to dropping water with buckets.

How big does a short haul site need to be?

Bill Gabbert15. September 2022Helicoptersextrication, rescue, short haul5 Comments

Example of a location that could serve as a short haul extrication site. (From the Rapid Lesson Sharing report)

While extricating an injured firefighter last month the firefighters on the ground were not sure how large a clearing was needed in order for a helicopter short haul rescue.

Short haul means moving people suspended from a helicopter on ropes or cable from the rescue location to some place where they can be safely unhooked from the rope or cable. The helicopter can land and the people who were unhooked are moved inside the helicopter to continue the flight.

A Rapid Lesson Sharing report was completed, along with a video. Here is the text, followed by the video:

Do You know what a Short-Haul Site Looks Like?

On August 10, 2022, Collin Hagan was struck by a tree while working to suppress the Big Swamp fire in central Oregon. Collin’s crew immediately requested short-haul. Crews hurriedly improved potential sites by falling trees and cutting brush to varying degrees but said they weren’t sure what was actually necessary for a short-haul site. When the helicopter arrived overhead, the short-haul crew noted that although Collin was in an unimproved site, it was suitable for extrication and moving Collin to the improved site was not necessary.

The short-haul crew described characteristics of a potential short-haul site:

Generally, zero improvement is required to perform a short-haul. With the right flight conditions, we need an opening in the canopy, about the size of a Volkswagen bug. If the terrain is steep, excavating a platform can make it easier once we’re on ground to package and depart smoothly with the patient.

The purpose of this learning product is to provide the field a general reference for what a short-haul site could be. Always remember that final site approval is ultimately up to the helicopter pilot and crew. An in-depth narrative from the perspective of the participants and other lessons learned are forthcoming as part of the Big Swamp Serious Accident Investigation.

The final narrative will be posted at: https://www.wildfirelessons.net/viewdocument/big-swamp-fire-hit-by-tree-fatality.

It was “by far the toughest flying I have ever done”, said helicopter pilot about rescuing trapped people at the Creek Fire

Bill Gabbert9. September 2020HelicoptersCalifornia, Creek Fire, National Guard, rescue, U.S. Navy6 Comments

Over 300 were rescued

rescued by California National Guard helicopter — Civilians in a Chinook that were rescued by a California National Guard helicopter and crew. CNG photo.

As of noon Tuesday, California National Guard and U.S. Navy helicopters had rescued 362 people and 16 dogs that had become trapped as roads were blocked by the fast moving Creek Fire northeast of Fresno, California. Civilians extracted from the Edison Lake and China Peak areas were flown to the Fresno airport in Blackhawks, Chinooks, and a Navy Seahawk.

Rescued people arrive at Fresno Creek Fire — People who were rescued from the Creek Fire arrive at Fresno airport September 8, 2020. California National Guard image.

Examples of their missions Tuesday at Lake Edison:

A Stockton-based Cal Guard Ch-47 chinook evacuated 46 people and four dogs.
A U.S. Navy SH-60 Seahawk helicopter rescued 17 people and one dog.
Two Cal Guard UH-60 Black Hawks and one CH-47 Chinook rescued 65 people.

Not all of the attempts to rescue people were immediately successful. On some missions poor visibility caused by smoke forced pilots to abort and try again later. Some of the flights were at night and were accomplished with the assistance of night vision goggles.

(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Creek Fire click HERE.)

One of the helicopter pilots said in an interview posted at the Sacramento Bee (below) that he has been shot at while flying for the Army but, “[T]he stress and added workload of going in and out of that fire every time is by far the toughest flying I have ever done.”

Map of the Creek Fire at 8:41 p.m. PDT September 7, 2020.

CHP helicopter makes one-skid landing during rescue

Bill Gabbert21. October 2018HelicoptersCalifornia, rescue

helicopter one-skid landing rescue — Screengrab from the CHP video.

California Highway Patrol’s Helicopter 70 made a one-skid landing October 14, 2018 while rescuing a young man at McWay Cove in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

The gentleman had been swept off a rock and into the ocean. He was able to get himself out of the water but not to safety. After the one-skid landing he was loaded onto the helicopter then transported to a near-by turnout on Highway 1.

Yellowstone area helicopters make two short haul rescues

Bill Gabbert18. November 201318. November 2013HelicoptersASTAR B3, Idaho, rescue, short haul, Wyoming

Yellowstone Helitack crew, short haul training. NPS photo.

Helicopters in the Yellowstone area made at least two short haul rescues in August, both of them with ASTAR B3 ships.

The first occurred on August 17 in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington. The helicopter from Yellowstone National Park had been assigned to the general area for fire and rescue support working out of Wenatchee when a climber had a medical problem at the 12,000′ level on Mount Rainier at Disapointment Cleaver. The Mount Rainier rangers knew the Yellowstone helicopter was in the area and requested it to respond after they evaluated the condition of the climber and considered the rescue alternatives.

The other happened on August 27 after a snag struck a Chena Hotshot crew member while assigned to the Kelley fire on the Sawtooth National Forest in central Idaho. The rescue was performed by a Jackson, Wyoming Teton Interagency helicopter while the ship was assigned to the fire. The National Park Service describes this rescue:

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“…Immediately after the accident, the Chena superintendent requested a medical evacuation, prompting air attack to request an air ambulance and a hoist-capable helicopter. Hearing the radio traffic, a Teton Interagency Helitack crew member assigned to the helibase notified air attack that the crew and Helicopter N26HX, which was conducting water drops from a dip site near Helibase, were short-haul capable. Short-haul is a rescue technique where an individual is suspended below the helicopter on a 100 to 200 foot rope. This method allows a rescuer more direct access to an injured party, and it is often used in national parks like Grand Teton National Park in the Teton Range where conditions make it difficult to land a helicopter in the steep and rocky terrain. Patients are typically flown out via short-haul with a ranger attending to them below the helicopter.

Operations diverted the helicopter from a water bucket mission, and the crew began preparing for a short-haul. Pilot Chris Templeton and short-haul spotter Garth Wagner flew a reconnaissance mission. Tasks included locating a suitable insertion spot, conducting environmental and power checks, and determining that a short-haul mission was the appropriate tool. Based on the recon flight, the crew completed a short-haul and Green-Amber-Red (GAR) risk assessment, then readied for the mission. They configured the helicopter by removing the doors, attaching a “three-ring” backup to the cargo hook, and inspecting and attaching a 150-foot-long short haul rope to the cargo hook. They also checked the harnesses for the short-hauler and spotter, as well as the communication systems. A litter was prepared with a harness and attachment points.

While the helitack crew was preparing helicopter N26HX for short-haul, another helicopter delivered medical gear to the site of the injured firefighter. An EMT on the Chena Hotshots and other crew members prepared the patient for transport. The helicopter inserted short-hauler Ron Johnson, whose normal job is as a Jenny Lake climbing ranger at Grand Teton National Park, with a litter and line gear into the extraction site. Rescuers transported the patient on a spine board the 150 feet to the extraction site. Because the patient was already packaged, the helicopter extracted him and the short-hauler about 15 minutes after inserting Johnson on site. They were flown back to helibase where a team of Teton Helitack members caught the patient and litter and transferred him to an awaiting life-flight helicopter.

Teton Interagency Helicopter. NPS photo.

During the week before the successful rescue mission, the Teton Helitack crew flew nearly three hours of short-haul training in typical terrain for pilot proficiency. Such proficiency training is required every 28 days, and in this case, the training was also essential in preparing the helitack crew to receive the patient and litter at helibase.

Using the short-haul method is relatively new to wildland fire, but is one of the preferred methods of rescue in the rugged terrain of several national parks, including Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Zion and Grand Canyon. The Yosemite Helitack crew performed a successful rescue earlier in August on the Green Ridge fire on the Deschutes National Forest.”

Helicopter assists in rescue of climber on El Capitan in Yosemite NP

Bill Gabbert13. September 2013HelicoptersCalifornia, rescue

From the National Park Service:

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“YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
Climber Rescued From El Capitan

Park dispatch received an emergency call from a climber on the 22nd pitch of the Nose Route on El Capitan on the morning of September 10th. The caller reported that a climber from another climbing team, a three-person group from Spain, had fallen 50 feet while leading the Great Roof Pitch (21st pitch) and had been seriously injured.

A Yosemite rescue team, including Yosemite helitak, was immediately assembled and flown to the summit of El Capitan via Helicopter 551, the park’s contract helicopter. Ranger/medics Ed Visnovske and Chris Bellino were lowered approximately a thousand feet to the injured climber and found that he was in need of medical attention. They also found that he’d landed on his belayer, who’d been injured as well.

The lead climber was packaged in a litter and lowered approximately 2,000 feet with Bellino to the base of El Capitan, where he received further medical care. The team at the summit of El Capitan then began lowering the injured belayer, the third member of the climbing team, and Visnovske approximately 2,000 feet to the base of El Capitan.

During the rescue operations, a thunderstorm developed, making rescue operations difficult. Because of smoke impacts from the nearby Rim Fire, helicopter operations also could not be carried out after 7 p.m. The rescue team at the summit of El Capitan was therefore forced to bivouac overnight and return to the Valley floor in the morning.”