A Helicopter working on the Fairview Fire near Hemet, California crashed at about 3:30 p.m. today as it was returning to an airport at Banning. The pilot and two passengers were transported to a local trauma center for treatment of “moderate injuries”, according to fire officials.
The FAA said in a statement that the Bell 206L-1 Long Ranger crashed in a residential backyard while approaching the airport to land. The FAA and the NTSB will investigate.
From the description in the media it appears the helicopter may have been the platform for the Helicopter Coordinator.
The FAA registration number is N242BH.
The Fairview Fire has burned about 28,000 acres, but the spread slowed after rain moved into the area Friday afternoon.
Ben Elkind’s family. Photo via Redmond Smokejumpers Welfare Organization.
A smokejumper was seriously injured Sunday May 15 during a training parachute jump. Ben Elkind sustained a dislocated hip and pelvic fracture during a hard landing. During surgery at the hospital they found six fractures and placed three plates and 10 screws to repair the damage.
Ben has been a Smokejumper for the US Forest Service based in Redmond, OR for nine years and worked in fire as a member of the Zig-Zag Hotshots before jumping. He rookied as a smokejumper in Redding, CA, in 2014 then transferred to Redmond in 2015 to be closer to home and his family.
If his name seems familiar it is because on Wildfire Today we reprinted an opinion article he wrote that was published in The Oregonian, titled, “A USFS firefighter in Oregon can be paid more at McDonald’s.” Ben was also a member of a group that traveled to Washington, D.C. in March where they met with White House officials about pay issues and passing the Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act (H.R. 5631). They also talked with Marty Walsh, the Secretary of Labor, who oversees the Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs (OWCP), an agency that has been criticized for slow-walking or failing to appropriately process the claims and pay the medical bills of firefighters injured on the job.
In an ironic twist, a GoFundMe page has been set up for Ben’s family by the Redmond Smokejumpers Welfare Organization, an often necessary step taken by many federal firefighters who are injured on the job. Here is an excerpt from their description on GoFundMe:
Ben has a long road to recovery and will be unable to work for a significant length of time and will be missing out on the overtime that so many wildland firefighters depend on to make a living. We are starting this GoFundMe in order to help Ben and his family through this tough time. Please consider donating to help a firefighter and his family while they support each other on the road to recovery.
A Gofundme account has been set up for Tim Hart who was seriously injured while parachuting into the Eicks Fire in southeastern New Mexico. He works out of the jumper base at West Yellowstone, Montana.
Below is the text from Gofundme, May 29, 2021:
On May 24th, West Yellowstone Smokejumper Tim Hart suffered multiple injuries after a hard landing during a fire jump in southern New Mexico. Tim was flown via air ambulance to a hospital in El Paso, Texas where he remains in critical condition.
Tim has been a wildland firefighter since 2006. He began his career working on an engine for the Coconino National Forest, and continued in that capacity on the Fremont-Winema NF and the Shoshone NF. After his engine time, he became a Lead Firefighter and Squadleader on the Asheville Interagency hotshot crew. He later held squadleader positions on Augusta IHC and Ruby Mountain IHC. Tim accepted a rookie smokejumper position in 2016 at Grangeville, Idaho. He moved to the West Yellowstone Smokejumper Base as a squadleader in 2019. Tim’s talents and natural leadership have been a big part in the success of all the functional areas here in West. He is willing to take things on very thoughtfully and methodically, and with a sense of humor.
Whatever the task is in front of him- whether it’s preparing for fire jumps or cargo drops, building furniture for his new home in Cody, WY or improvising a musical jam session with his wife Michelle, he rises to the challenge! His “get- it- done” attitude will serve him well on his journey to recovery.
Thank you for supporting Tim and his family during this incredibly difficult time. They have a long road ahead of them, and any burden we may be able to lift would be greatly appreciated.
Keep Tim in your thoughts and prayers…. and keep the whiskey nearby to celebrate all of Tim’s victories down the road.
6:15 p.m. MDT May 26, 2021
Map showing the location of the Eicks Fire.
A U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper was seriously injured Monday after a hard landing at a wildfire in New Mexico. Tim Hart of Cody, Wyoming was dispatched to help suppress the Eicks Fire in the Animas Mountains of southeastern New Mexico, nine miles north of the Mexico border. He works out of the jumper base at West Yellowstone, Montana.
Mr. Hart was flown by air ambulance to a hospital in El Paso. “The Forest Service’s first priority is to provide for him and his family right now,” said Marna Daley, Forest Service spokeswoman. “We are working with the smokejumper and firefighter community to make sure those needs are being met.”
The Eicks Fire has burned 850 acres of grass and brush since it was reported May 24, 2021 in very rugged terrain along the Continental Divide. No structures have burned and none are threatened.
Some media outlets initially reported that the injured person was a Hotshot firefighter, but in a Congressional hearing on Tuesday Chief of the Forest Service Vicki Christiansen said it was a smokejumper.
3D map showing the approximate location of the Eicks Fire, May 25, 2021. Looking North.
Suffered a serious back injury. Report is available.
On the Lily Lake Fire August 17, 2020 on the Deschutes National Forest in Oregon, a first-year smokejumper performing a letdown procedure from a tree fell and suffered a broken vertebrae. The patient was treated on scene by U.S. Forest Service EMTs then transported to a hospital via air ambulance. Surgery three days later was successful and a full recovery is expected after rehabilitation.
Once on final [approach] he recognized that he was a little downwind from where the other jumpers had set up.
When he realized he wasn’t going to make the jump spot and no alternates were available, he looked around for a healthy tree and selected a tall green western hemlock to land in. He aimed for it, snagging his parachute in limbs approximately 40 feet above the ground. As he came to rest he quickly shifted into the muscle memory he developed during rookie training that spring, calming the initial nerves he felt.
Initiating the letdown procedure, he called out to his jump partner, “JP, am I hung up well?”
But his jump partner, still making his way to the tree having just landed himself, was not yet close enough to hear or respond. Now that he was treed up, the tree didn’t seem to be as good as he thought. Entangled about midway up the 100 foot tree on the edge of the branches, he was just out of arm’s reach from the bole. He seemed to be fairly level with most of the tension on his left riser. There weren’t many branches around him, and those that were nearby were short and sloped downward. Continuing the letdown procedure, he chose to drop the drogue release handle instead of placing it in his pocket, in order to avoid excess movement.
Three jumpers from the previous load heard over the radio someone was treed up as they continued hiking to the fire. The jump ship maintained orbit, waiting for the jumper to get on the ground before throwing cargo. One of his rookie trainers saw him hung up and ran over to help him through the letdown procedure.
He wasn’t far along in the process when she reached his tree. “Am I treed up well?” he asked.
Looking up at the suspended jumper the rookie trainer didn’t think he was and told him so, encouraging him to continue and limiting her input to only what was needed to expedite the process. As the jumper continued through the steps small branches rained down. Throughout his training he had demonstrated great proficiency in the letdown process both on the units* and during a training jump where he treed up. He felt less stress now than he had during the training jump. His rookie trainer listened as he advanced through his five point check “perfectly correct.”
He slowly released his right side riser and felt little movement. As he suspected, his left riser was holding his weight. Suddenly he had “a bad feeling” and said as much to the jumper on the ground. He then began to release his tight left riser. He had to jerk slightly on the riser to initiate the 3 ring release. As it released and he began to weight the letdown tape he heard a crack and began to drop. He bounced back up slightly “like a spring” before feeling a snap and falling 30 feet.
But his jump partner, still making his way to the tree having just landed himself, was not yet close enough to hear or respond. Now that he was treed up, the tree didn’t seem to be as good as he thought. Entangled about midway up the 100 foot tree on the edge of the branches, he was just out of arm’s reach from the bole. He seemed to be fairly level with most of the tension on his left riser. There weren’t many branches around him, and those that were nearby were short and sloped downward. Continuing the letdown procedure, he chose to drop the drogue release handle instead of placing it in his pocket, in order to avoid excess movement.
He wasn’t far along in the process when she reached his tree. “Am I treed up well?” he asked.