Firefighter in Oregon with broken leg rescued by short haul

A firefighter who suffered a broken leg while working on a wildfire east of Corvallis, Oregon was extracted from a very remote area by short haul with a National Park Service helicopter.

Below is a press release from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office:

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“Linn County Undersheriff Jim Yon reports on Monday July 20, at 10:10pm, the Sheriff’s Office received a call from the U.S. Forest Service requesting assistance from Linn County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue for an injured wildland fire fighter. Michael Lee Burri, 31 years old from Estacada, sustained a broken leg while working with a 21 person Mount Hood Initial Attack Fire Team that had been fighting a small fire near road 11 off Quartzville road.

Sweet Home Fire Department paramedics initially were dispatched to the scene. Two medics hiked in approximately 3 miles to Burri. Once on scene, they recognized an air rescue would be the safest way to remove Burri.

Linn County SAR worked in coordination with Oregon Air National Guard to get a United States Coast Guard helicopter to the area to attempt a rescue. The Coast Guard helicopter arrived in the area at 03:00am. As the Coast Guard helicopter attempted to land, air from the blades caused the fire to quickly stir up. The fire, along with the rough terrain, made the rescue not possible. The Coast Guard helicopter did not attempt another rescue.

Linn County SAR had been on standby up until this point and now responded to the trailhead. They cleared a secondary landing zone for a helicopter. At day light, a National Park Service MD 900 helicopter, out of Redmond, was successfully able to air lift Burri out. They had to use a rope and harness because the helicopter was not able to land. Burri was taken to the secondary landing area, loaded into the helicopter, and then transported to the Albany Municipal Airport. Burri was transferred to an Albany Fire Department ambulance and taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis.

Linn County Sheriff’s Office had a total of 18 members from SAR involved with the operation, along with 2 members from the Sweet Home Fire Department. Other agencies involved were the U.S. Forest Service, United States Coast Guard, and the National Parks Service.”

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(UPDATE July 27, 2015)

On July 24 we asked Tina Boehle, a spokesperson for the National Park Service, about this incident. She told us today, July 27, “According to Shad Sitz, our Regional Aviation Manager for Pacific West Region, it was the Grand Canyon National Park helicopter and crew that conducted the short-haul operation you note.”

Later in the day a “72 hour” report was issued for the incident.

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Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Dave.

Typos, let us know, and please keep in mind the commenting ground rules before you post a comment.

10 thoughts on “Firefighter in Oregon with broken leg rescued by short haul”

  1. On July 24 we asked Tina Boehle, a spokesperson for the National Park Service, about this incident. She told us today, July 27, “According to Shad Sitz, our Regional Aviation Manager for Pacific West Region, it was the Grand Canyon National Park helicopter and crew that conducted the short-haul operation you note.”

  2. The news release is riddled with errors. I was on the fire for the first operational shift until the FF was short hauled out the next morning.The Coast Guard never attempted to land, because we had only cut a heli spot large enough for a type 3. They did attempt a hoist rescue in two locations, but the rotor wash stirred up the fire and threatened to blow down snags. The rotor wash combined with ember fallout was very intense. On a brighter note the short haul rescue from the NPS ship seemed to go very well. Lots of lessons learned when contemplating a Coast Guard/ Natl Guard hoist rescue.

  3. Bill- There is a problem with this story. There are no “NPS helicopters” based in Oregon. The state’s only National Park, Crater Lake, doesn’t even have a contract short haul operation, as far as I know. The only NPS (vendor operated) MD900 in the country is based at Grand Canyon NP, and is hoist equipped, thus not likely to participate in a short haul rescue.
    The Redmond Air Center has been doing some regional USFS short haul training this year- perhaps they sent whatever ship was rotated in there for that training, and someone then misidentified it? (By the way, there is not one para-public hoist equipped rescue helicopter in all of Oregon, and only 2 in Washington, but that’s another story)

      1. The Grand Canyon MD900 is not hoist equipped. It is currently assigned to duty in Oregon and was used for this short haul.

      2. Oops… I think you are correct, Steve. Grand Canyon’s current MD900 apparently is a short-haul-only operation.

        1. Figured it out (sort of)…
          MD900 N368PA, the current(?) NPS Grand Canyon ship, is shown assigned to the Marion incident, OR-WIF-000208, on yesterday’s NWCC Shared Resources-Aviation Status report.
          Unknown why it is in Oregon (short haul training at RAC?), and the report misidentifies it as a “Hughes 500 series.”

        2. Yup, Grand Canyon is short-haul, no hoist. And it has been on assignment in Oregon, not too far from there, so the story is accurate as far as I can tell from the sources I’ve checked. Seems like the PNW GACC is trying its best to have a few short-haul capable aircraft in the region as often as they can the past few years. Not a bad idea.

    1. The Helicopter from the Grand Canyon was on assignment in Oregon and today shows it is in Reno on AFF I guess on the way home. It doesn’t have hoist capabilities but they do short haul with it at the Canyon and even did a short haul rescue when it was assigned to the Las Conchas fire.

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