Los Angeles City Archives

Extreme water drop by LA FD helicopter

Bill Gabbert25. May 2021HelicoptersAW139, California, Los Angeles City5 Comments

Small fire on a steep slope in Los Angeles above the Pacific Coast highway

LA City AW-139 makes a water drop — LA City FD AW-139 makes a water drop on a fire near the Pacific Coast Highway, May 24, 2020. Image from video by Blake Lawrence and Jacob Wilson.

An AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter operated by the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) made a couple of very interesting water drops Monday on a wildfire above the Pacific Coast Highway.

The fire was on a steep slope, so the pilot(s) may have been employing tactics to allow the water to be traveling horizontally when it struck the ground, or, out of the camera frame may have been crowds of people and structures that the pilots wanted to avoid. Or both.

LAFD Copter 3 putting in some work on the #PCHFire yesterday afternoon in #PacificPalisades that was held to two acres and is now 100% contained.
🎥 – Blake Lawrence & Jacob Wilson pic.twitter.com/HvYScfSweR
— SoCal Air Operations (@SocalAirOps) May 25, 2021

Last year I interviewed Brandon Prince, one of the LAFD pilots who gave us a great deal of information about the city’s helicopter fleet. For firefighting they use their five AgustaWestland AW139 helicopters. They usually begin a mission with half a tank of fuel which allows them to have the 480-gallon belly tank about half full of water.

The aircraft also have a smaller tank for Class A foam which can be injected into the tank to improve the wetting capability of the water.

The LAFD AW139’s have retractable snorkel hoses which allow them to hover while refilling with water, but Mr. Prince said they nearly always land to reload.

Los Angeles Fire Department helicopters — Two Los Angeles Fire Department AW139 helicopters prepare to take off on a mission to rescue a hiker in distress, January 26, 2020. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

Interview with a Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter pilot

Bill Gabbert19. February 202025. May 2021HelicoptersAW139, California, Los Angeles City3 Comments

Firefighting, rescues, and medical aids using an Agusta Westland 139

I interviewed one of the pilots that fly multi-mission helicopters for the Los Angeles Fire Department with the goal of obtaining enough information to write an article about the Department’s aviation program.

I recorded the interview, with Pilot Brandon Prince’s permission, so that I would not have to attempt to take detailed notes and in doing so miss some of what he was saying. But in playing the recording back it was obvious that Mr. Prince was very well-spoken and eloquent. He was describing the program better than an article I would have written.

So I put the interview in a video, and dressed up the audio with still photos taken at the Department’s base at Van Nuys Airport and 28 seconds of video showing two of their Augusta Westland 139 helicopters warming up before they departed on a mission to assist a hiker in distress.

In the interview Mr. Prince discusses the makeup of the seven-helicopter fleet, making decisions about where to drop water on a wildfire, hot refueling, how much fuel and water they begin a firefighting mission with, and the amount of training necessary to be qualified to serve on a helitack crew.

(If you’re having trouble viewing the video you can see it on YouTube)

Video helps children learn about firefighting helicopters

Bill Gabbert12. March 2019HelicoptersAW139, children, Los Angeles City

In a comment below our article about the Los Angeles County Fire Department Air Operations program, Chris pointed us to this excellent video that introduces firefighting helicopters to young children, saying his two-year old is obsessed with it. It has commercials, but you can skip through most of them after a few seconds.

The video features Los Angeles Fire Department’s Leonardo AW139 intermediate twin engine helicopters. The department has six helicopters, four AW139’s and two Bell Jet Rangers.

Thanks Chris!

Firefighting at Los Angeles International Airport

Bill Gabbert19. December 201817. December 2018MiscCalifornia, Los Angeles City1 Comment

Los Angeles Fire Department airport rescue — Screen grab from LAFD video.

Airport firefighting is a very specialized niche — there are not many similarities in what they do compared to most other firefighters. For example, one of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s rigs at the city’s airport can apply by the push of a button on the dash, water, foam, dry chemical, or Halotron (a clean agent). That truck also has a penetrator device which can pierce the fuselage of an aircraft in order to apply one of the four suppressing agents in the interior of the aircraft.

Much more information is in the video below about the Los Angeles Fire Department Airport Rescue Firefighting organization.

Introduction to the Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter program

Bill Gabbert17. December 201827. December 2018HelicoptersAW139, California, Los Angeles City

LAFD helicopter — AgustaWestland AW139. Screenshot from the LAFD video.

The Los Angeles Fire Department(LAFD) aviation program started in 1962 with one Bell 47. Today they have six helicopters, four AgustaWestland AW139’s and two Bell Jet Rangers. To work as a pilot with the Department, you can’t simply walk in off the street. The minimum qualifications are:

Private helicopter license,
At least 100 hours of flight time in a helicopter, and,
Four years experience as a firefighter with the LAFD.

LAFD helicopter crane rescue — Screenshot from the LAFD video.

After a pilot is accepted into the program they are shipped over to the Los Angeles Police Department aviation program where they receive training with 150 hours of flight time, a commercial license, and an instrument rating. If successful there, they go back to the Fire Department and get another 200 flight hours of training. Then there is additional schooling at AgustaWestland to fly their 139.

The video below has much more information.

Helicopter diverts from dropping water to rescuing civilians… and dogs

Bill Gabbert20. November 201820. November 2018HelicoptersCalifornia, Los Angeles City, Woolsey Fire3 Comments

“This is rapidly becoming very ugly.”

Helicopter Rescue Woolsey Fire California — Screenshot from the LA Fire Department video below. Three people and two dogs were rescued as the Woolsey Fire approached.

While on a water dropping mission on November 9, the second day of the Woolsey Fire in Southern California, a Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter received a new assignment. Civilians were trapped on a mountain top as the fire approached. Even as they were running critically low on fuel the pilots found a way to land on a ridge top that was littered with communication towers and vehicles.

The video below was shot from a pilot’s helmet camera.

It was great work, team work, by the pilots to successfully pull this off. We appreciate that he filmed what they were doing, and that their department approved and helped to publicize the fact that the recording exists. Some public agencies have draconian rules about their employees or the public taking photos or filming their activities. Videos like this can help citizens understand what fire departments do and how they are carrying out their missions even as politicians may lob uninformed verbal assaults their way.

CAL FIRE says the Woolsey Fire has burned 96,949 acres and 1,500 structures, with no breakdown of residences vs. outbuildings. The number of civilian fatalities has remained at three for several days.

Night flying helicopter drops water on structure fire near World Series game

Bill Gabbert26. October 2017HelicoptersCalifornia, Los Angeles City, night flying3 Comments

Two fires broke out Wednesday night near Dodgers Stadium, a brush fire and one in a condominium.

Above: A helicopter dropped water on a fire in a condominium near Dodgers Stadium Wednesday night. Screen grab from CBS LA video.

(Originally posted at 2:53 p.m. MDT October 26, 2017)

Two fires broke out Wednesday night during the World Series game on opposite sides of Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles. First was a grass fire reported at 7:35 p.m. in the 1800 block of Academy Road. A night-flying helicopter assisted firefighters on the ground by dropping water on the blaze that burned about two acres.

Small BRUSH FIRE by Dodgers Stadium during game two of the World Series @CBSLA pic.twitter.com/7nbgIZilKK
— stu mundel (@Stu_Mundel) October 26, 2017

The helicopter was then diverted to a fire on the third-floor balcony of a three-story condominium in the 1000 block of Everett Place where it made two water drops. Los Angeles City Department Assistant Chief Tim Ernst called it, “A quick knockdown”.

“Extremely unusual” water drop onto a house tonight. LAFD tells us homeowner was at the Dodger game, could see the fire from his seat! @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/bjvCKHn2b7
— Jory Rand (@ABC7Jory) October 26, 2017

There was a report that the owner of the condo could see the fire from the baseball game.

NTSB investigating LAFD helicopter tree strike

Bill Gabbert15. September 2017HelicoptersAW139, California, Fire 4, Los Angeles City

lafd fire 4 helicopter — On June 20 the Los Angeles Fire Department announced their just-purchased helicopter, “Fire 4”, was en route to LA.

The Los Angeles Fire Department is not saying much about an NTSB investigation into an accident that involved their brand new firefighting helicopter, Fire 4, an AW139 that they just put into service one or two months ago. On September 2 Fire 4 was making water drops on the La Tuna Fire in Los Angeles and struck a tree, according to a preliminary accident report by the FAA.

At least one person told NBC 4 in Los Angeles that while monitoring fire traffic on a scanner he heard the pilot say he hit something and put out a Mayday call. The pilot made a successful emergency landing at the Verdugo Hills High School football field.

fire 3 lafd helicopter — File photo of Fire 4’s sister ship, Fire 3. Both are AW139’s. LAFD photo.

You’ll probably want to click on full screen at bottom-right in the video below.

Heliweb has photos that appear to show small tree branches embedded in the damaged areas of the fuselage while the aircraft was parked on the football field. The helicopter apparently received substantial damage to the tail boom, stabilizers, and left side sponson/wheel housing. The left side stabilizer is missing in the photos.

Continue reading “NTSB investigating LAFD helicopter tree strike”