0:00:13.509,0:00:20.509 Chopper. Whirly bird. Angel. All were names for the helicopter which represented the greatest 0:00:39.920,0:00:46.539 single auxiliary development of the Korean War. The number of lives saved as a result 0:00:46.539,0:00:50.960 of the helicopter evacuation is a dramatic example of teamwork, coordination and skill 0:00:50.960,0:00:56.729 and the broken terrain of the Korean countryside, made the continued use of helicopters particularly 0:00:56.729,0:01:02.109 successful. From the early days of the war, helicopters were used to evacuate the critically 0:01:02.109,0:01:06.830 wounded to rare area medical facilities where careful and more extensive treatment could 0:01:06.830,0:01:13.830 be given the wounded. Few innovations have impacted boots on the 0:01:16.369,0:01:22.500 ground as much as blades in the air. This module will reflect on early helicopter use, 0:01:22.500,0:01:28.000 their present day implementation and the cutting edge of innovation. The intent is having you 0:01:28.000,0:01:33.440 the viewer, envision their future. The helicopter has proved itself for scouting 0:01:33.440,0:01:40.440 large fires at slow speed and close to the ground. It has delivered firefighters, tools, 0:01:41.240,0:01:46.710 supplies and crews from canyon bottoms to ridge tops in minutes, when travel by roads 0:01:46.710,0:01:53.710 or trails required hours. Yes, the helicopter can do many jobs. Thatís why itís almost 0:01:56.690,0:02:03.380 in constant demand on forest fires. Troops packing machine guns to firefighters 0:02:03.380,0:02:08.500 packing chainsaws have looked to the sky for the promise of helicopters for greater efficiency 0:02:08.500,0:02:13.840 and effectiveness. This is fueled our imaginations and willingness to consider new strategies 0:02:13.840,0:02:19.540 and tactics. While many ideas from helicopters of early years continue to this day, others 0:02:19.540,0:02:26.540 had been disregarded. Why do you think some ideas have come and gone while others remain? 0:02:31.170,0:02:38.170 Another specialized use of the helicopter, is the hose lay. With a hose dispensing tray, 0:02:38.519,0:02:43.959 the helicopter is capable of laying up to 2,000 feet of lightweight fire hose over brush 0:02:43.959,0:02:50.959 or timber covered terrain. In this fire situation, a ten man crew is 0:02:51.650,0:02:58.650 needed to construct a fireline in an inaccessible sector. Since there is no helicopter near 0:02:58.749,0:03:05.749 this sector, a call goes out for a helitack specialist to construct one. After high level 0:03:07.329,0:03:14.329 and low level passes over the proposed site, a safe jump spot is selected. A cargo sling 0:03:14.439,0:03:20.569 containing a power saw and tools is dropped. Then the crewman makes a helijump to reach 0:03:20.569,0:03:26.680 the ground. At the pilotís get ready signal, the helitack crewman unfastens his safety 0:03:26.680,0:03:33.680 belt, steps out on the landing gear and readies himself for the helijump. At the pilotís 0:03:34.889,0:03:41.889 jump signal, he steps off, lands on his feet, rolls naturally and remains prone on the ground 0:03:43.569,0:03:50.569 until the helicopter is safely away. During the time the helispot is being constructed, 0:03:51.779,0:03:58.739 the helicopter may drop liquid retardant on a spot fire or hold the fire in check until 0:03:58.739,0:04:05.739 the firemen arrive. Consider which innovations are relatively 0:04:23.220,0:04:30.220 new to the use of helicopters on incidents and what just may be around the corner. 0:04:36.350,0:04:41.760 To help facilitate such thinking, letís listen in on the experiences of four current employees 0:04:41.760,0:04:47.840 from two different agencies. My name is Eric Graff. Uh, everyone calls 0:04:47.840,0:04:53.820 me Easy. Uh, been in fire for 13 years. Been with Grand Canyon Helitack for ten of those 0:04:53.820,0:04:59.820 13 years. Before that, originally grew up in Casper, Wyoming. Uh did BLM crew engines 0:04:59.820,0:05:06.190 and fuel crews back there. Um currently Iím the lead helitack and a paramedic for the 0:05:06.190,0:05:08.630 park. Um been a paramedic for almost four years. 0:05:08.630,0:05:15.280 My name is Jackie Renn. Iím from the Grand Canyon, born and raised. Iíve been in fire 0:05:15.280,0:05:20.880 for eight seasons. Just finished my fifth season here on Grand Canyon Helitack. I love 0:05:20.880,0:05:25.500 being here. Iím a paramedic and Iím getting ready to recertify so Iím barely a two-year 0:05:25.500,0:05:32.500 medic and I wanted to keep going. Uh largely since Iíve been working with them 0:05:37.400,0:05:43.930 since 2005, itís been the increase in capabilities for medevacs and extraction capabilities. 0:05:43.930,0:05:50.930 With some new technologies, new belly bands and then just getting other crews, not just 0:05:51.300,0:05:55.850 us, more familiar with medevacs and medical all emergencies off the fireline, I think 0:05:55.850,0:05:58.970 itís come a long ways since. Itís still got a long ways to go, thereís no doubt about 0:05:58.970,0:06:05.180 that, but weíre getting there itís gonna provide a better product for people on the 0:06:05.180,0:06:08.070 ground. Get people to a fire faster. And then they 0:06:08.070,0:06:12.250 started getting used more in the EMS aspect where you were noticing people getting hurt 0:06:12.250,0:06:18.410 on the fires. We gotta increase our safety buffer area and we needed. Helicopters help 0:06:18.410,0:06:24.280 get people to definitive care faster and in order to save lives, we needed to incorporate 0:06:24.280,0:06:31.280 more aircraft into the situation. So going from just EMS being able to land on a fire, 0:06:31.490,0:06:38.490 weíve now moved forward to having hoist ship, uh short haul capable ships such as here. 0:06:38.520,0:06:41.570 And I think thatís gonna continue to grow. I think weíre going to continue to evolve 0:06:41.570,0:06:45.660 more and weíre gonna see more short haul in the future. I think other agencies beside 0:06:45.660,0:06:50.300 the Park Service are more so gonna get involved within the fire world on supporting short 0:06:50.300,0:06:57.230 haul. Itís gonna get a individual out quicker if thereís no landing zone on site and itís 0:06:57.230,0:07:04.230 gonna get that person to definitive care 0:10:24.490,0:10:31.490 a lot faster. This year we uh were on the Big Meadows Fire 0:11:34.490,0:11:41.490 and we were working extraction capable uh helicopters while we got the order. On this 0:11:41.940,0:11:48.190 document on the Lessons Learned Center was the cardiac event there Big Meadows um where 0:11:48.190,0:11:53.620 a hotshot went down and had a cardiac event. The crews did a wonderful job of starting 0:11:53.620,0:12:00.060 CPR in the first minute as well as getting a AED along the line there within I believe 0:12:00.060,0:12:07.060 they shocked him within seven minutes of him collapsing. Got a pulse and respirations back 0:12:08.940,0:12:15.089 and uh actually came around a little bit. What our role was was basically supporting. 0:12:15.089,0:12:20.339 First thing in the morning we flew off the helibase and into the helispot and myself 0:12:20.339,0:12:26.029 plus another paramedic and our helicopter manager trainee ran up to the scene and helped 0:12:26.029,0:12:33.029 just facilitate his transport out. We had enough area luckily at the helispot to order 0:12:33.880,0:12:39.980 a Life Flight out of Denver and they flew directly to the fire to the helispot. The 0:12:39.980,0:12:46.180 timeline actually worked out real well where we letter carried the patient all the way 0:12:46.180,0:12:50.960 just as the Life Flight was landing. Transfer the patient. The patient to the hospital. 0:12:50.960,0:12:57.960 We were in the hospital like an hour and 15 20 minutes from collapse to enroute to the 0:12:58.740,0:13:04.810 hospital, so. This crew for some reason, um largely cuz we get more opportunity than most 0:13:04.810,0:13:10.610 uh, thereís always a medical ship on assignments and itís, ya know, we get a lot of practice 0:13:10.610,0:13:16.990 here at the Canyon of doing medevacs and doing transitions from fire work to medevacs. 0:13:16.990,0:13:23.990 So, Iíve been a short haul rescuer for four seasons now and my first rescue came in during 0:13:26.480,0:13:33.480 my first season that I was short haul qualified. Went up to Zion Park for an individual who 0:13:33.950,0:13:40.029 was jumping across rocks and fell and actually broke his femur. Had a femur fracture. It 0:13:40.029,0:13:45.089 was on a place called Angelís Landing up in Zion National Park. When you get up there, 0:13:45.089,0:13:50.750 it can look a bit sketchy from the air, itís just like this long, thin ridgetop where one 0:13:50.750,0:13:56.190 sideís a 1,000 foot drop off and the other sideís just kind of slanted but just teeters 0:13:56.190,0:14:03.190 off so itís not that bad. So, I went up there with my spotter and pilot and confirmed that 0:14:03.420,0:14:09.860 I was OK taking the short haul. We went down. We configured, we couldnít land at the site 0:14:09.860,0:14:13.180 which is what we like to do, but we couldnít land just given the location and thereís 0:14:13.180,0:14:18.740 no way of actually putting a ship on top of Angelís Landing. They reconfigured, they 0:14:18.740,0:14:22.990 took me up, they inserted me. I made sure that the patient was packaged and then they 0:14:22.990,0:14:26.920 just hovered and did a little flap around and by then I was ready with the patient. 0:14:26.920,0:14:31.240 They came back in, grabbed us both, we hooked up and we went right down. It was a quick 0:14:31.240,0:14:36.190 and easy operation. The biggest part of the short haul is the planning, but the actual 0:14:36.190,0:14:43.190 short haul itself goes really quick and really swiftly. 0:14:46.610,0:14:51.170 My nameís Alexander Zimore. Iím an agent with Office of Air and Marine. My title is 0:14:51.170,0:14:55.060 Air Enforcement Agent and Iíve been an agent for approximately 11 years. 0:14:55.060,0:15:02.060 Hi my name is Eric Hughes. Iím an Air Extraction Agent with Department of Homeland Security 0:15:02.070,0:15:06.589 Customs Border Protection Office of Air and Marine. Iíve been on the agency for five 0:15:06.589,0:15:13.589 years. Iím a pilot both Black Hawk and A-Star as well as a first master and a rescue lift 0:15:18.649,0:15:24.040 operator. Well, particularly with medical itís been 0:15:24.040,0:15:30.930 a huge growth. Once again, ya know, some years ago when I first came on staff, pretty much 0:15:30.930,0:15:36.010 all we had available to us was landing an aircraft in the field, which we can run into 0:15:36.010,0:15:42.459 all kinds of problems. Rotor strikes, belly strikes with rocks to slight progression where 0:15:42.459,0:15:49.459 we had rope hurst masters, hooking a rope up into the aircraft, deploying them out, 0:15:50.519,0:15:55.510 deploying EMTs and paramedics, working with the ground agents and then still having to 0:15:55.510,0:16:01.880 land the aircraft in the safest possible area where then we would get the patient and load 0:16:01.880,0:16:06.310 them in the aircraft and fly away. To progress even further where we would short haul long 0:16:06.310,0:16:11.130 line the patient connected to the bottom of the aircraft and then flying them away. To 0:16:11.130,0:16:16.110 where we are now where we have the hoist. The hoist is just an amazing system to where 0:16:16.110,0:16:21.320 we can hoist an agent down, an EMT or paramedic, and work on the patient, connect them to a 0:16:21.320,0:16:27.680 basket, um, put the hoist back down and lift them both up into the aircraft. Transit them 0:16:27.680,0:16:34.680 to a hospital or the nearest Life Flight or some kinda EMS on the ground. 0:16:35.100,0:16:40.250 When I first started working with the CBP, um, we didnít do very many rescues at all 0:16:40.250,0:16:46.339 with the helicopter platform as far as the short haul capabilities and the horst operations 0:16:46.339,0:16:52.250 and the rescue hoist. In the last three years weíve amped up our program, become fully 0:16:52.250,0:16:59.250 operational in both the helicopter rope suspension techniques um as well as the hoist which is 0:17:01.080,0:17:06.649 right above my head. Um for rescue hoist operations. So weíre able to support a lot more people 0:17:06.649,0:17:12.519 in various canyons throughout Arizona to uh back to rescue. 0:17:12.519,0:17:19.519 Eric, could you explain the operations and procedures involved with horst rescue operations 0:17:19.600,0:17:23.959 and short haul? Sure, uh, right above us we have our fries 0:17:23.959,0:17:30.400 bar, which is a Black Hawk model, uh, UH-60. Uh, so what we would do is we would pull out 0:17:30.400,0:17:37.400 the fast bar and connect the fast rope. Uh, itís about 55 feet in length. We would then 0:17:37.429,0:17:42.620 uh perceive to hover right above the subject or suspect that we were apprehending or rescuing. 0:17:42.620,0:17:47.490 Uh, at that point in time we would come to about 20 feet. We would send out two to three 0:17:47.490,0:17:53.470 ropers, usually an EMT uh on the scene to assess the situation. Um, we would then connect 0:17:53.470,0:17:58.260 them to an ARV which is an Air Rescue Vest if theyíre mobile. If theyíre not mobile, 0:17:58.260,0:18:02.120 we would send down the litter. Uh, we would connect the litter to the bottom and do a 0:18:02.120,0:18:09.120 short haul to an area where we could actually land, pick up the subject or suspect and put 0:18:09.920,0:18:16.920 them in the UH-60 for transport to uh the closest facility for medical purposes. And 0:18:17.600,0:18:22.780 that would be Hearst operations, so we can rappel in or we can fast rope in through the 0:18:22.780,0:18:27.809 fries bar right above our head. Uh usually we would rappel in an area thatís taller 0:18:27.809,0:18:32.650 than 50 feet uh if weíre unable to get the fast rope in there we would set up a rappel 0:18:32.650,0:18:39.650 system and go down on a rappel uh to the area, assess the situation and go from there for 0:18:40.100,0:18:47.100 a short haulÖor whatís necessary. Then we have the hoist which just came on board operationally 0:18:47.920,0:18:54.100 about two years ago and this last year weíve used it probably 50 to 100 times for rescues 0:18:54.100,0:19:00.340 in Arizona with countless footage inside. So this hoist here uh makes our job a lot 0:19:00.340,0:19:06.040 easier uh with those taller, higher rescues. Weíll send down an EMT as well as one or 0:19:06.040,0:19:11.490 two other agents for tactical situations, assess the situation and then go ahead and 0:19:11.490,0:19:16.420 send the suspect or the subject. If we need to send down the litter, we would send down 0:19:16.420,0:19:21.720 the litter as well just depending on how bad off the uh customer is. A lot of times we 0:19:21.720,0:19:27.900 deal with US citizens that fall in canyons, break their leg, uh compound fractures, uh. 0:19:27.900,0:19:34.380 Itís gonna take three to four hours for ground agents to respond or local EMTs so we will 0:19:34.380,0:19:40.140 drop in usually within 15 minutes, assess the situation, send in an EMT in and um and 0:19:40.140,0:19:47.140 rescue and drop them off either in an ambulance or an UMC which is a trauma one, level one 0:20:02.390,0:20:09.290 trauma. How do you think having a helicopter on an 0:20:09.290,0:20:13.830 incident effects the strategies and tactics used? 0:20:13.830,0:20:20.830 Well, the strategies and tactics can only be supported by what logistically we can do 0:20:20.900,0:20:27.840 and helicopters are a large part of that uh whether itís supplies or medevac capabilities, 0:20:27.840,0:20:32.850 bucket support, depending on what the mission is and what the terrain and other variables 0:20:32.850,0:20:39.850 are always constant with fireline activities, the strategies and tactics are derived from 0:20:41.130,0:20:48.130 that. One thing, uh, we get recommend through our 0:20:52.100,0:20:57.330 training academy here a lot of times is our professionalism when it comes to slowing things 0:20:57.330,0:21:01.760 down when we have emergencies and I think we can take that in the fire realm quite easily 0:21:01.760,0:21:08.610 whether, you know, itís a WUI situation or itís a medical situation or just evolving 0:21:08.610,0:21:15.090 fire. Itís OK to back things off and slow things down. And even say no at times. Uh, 0:21:15.090,0:21:22.090 I think thatís a big lesson that takes a long time to learn but it can. 0:21:29.000,0:21:34.080 A large part of where we get the issues when it comes to medical situations um is largely 0:21:34.080,0:21:38.820 with teams than it is the difference between helispots versus medevac sites. If you look 0:21:38.820,0:21:43.070 through the IHOG you look through policy, thereís no such thing as medevac sites um 0:21:43.070,0:21:49.419 and we seem to argue with most teams. Some teams donít do it, some um, large teams came 0:21:49.419,0:21:54.540 out with it after Dutch Creek as a form of mitigation coming up with the term medevac 0:21:54.540,0:22:01.540 site. And I donít know where it got started and thatís OK, but really, we focus on is 0:22:01.750,0:22:08.290 it a helispot or is it not. If itís a helispot then we can land in it all day long as a medical 0:22:08.290,0:22:14.630 emergency. If itís a medevac site, we donít like that term, when I think medevac site 0:22:14.630,0:22:20.520 itís either helispot or itís extraction and weíre gonna go short uh capable and possibly 0:22:20.520,0:22:27.520 do a short haul. Sometimes a landing is more risky or has a higher risk than a small short 0:22:28.169,0:22:35.169 haul would do, or doing a more appropriate thing a lot of times is just approving the 0:22:35.870,0:22:41.900 medevac site to a helispot and taking a crew and just taking an hour. If they think itís 0:22:41.900,0:22:44.620 that close to a medevac site, then it usually doesnít take that much improvement to make 0:22:44.620,0:22:49.390 it a full fledge helispot and thatís uh, thatís one thing we seem to battle with uh 0:22:49.390,0:22:55.630 quite a bit and a large part of that we donít like is the transfer of risk. We understand 0:22:55.630,0:23:00.280 that the ground forces like the idea of a medevac site because it gives them mitigation 0:23:00.280,0:23:05.929 in case one of the personnel gets hurt. What we donít like is itís kinda transferring 0:23:05.929,0:23:11.100 that risk to the air crew saying itís not good enough for a helispot, but in case of 0:23:11.100,0:23:15.929 emergency, you may be able to use it once is kinda the idea behind the medevac site. 0:23:15.929,0:23:18.280 Well now youíre just taking that risk and youíre taking a little bit from the ground, 0:23:18.280,0:23:22.850 but youíre putting it on the air crew and now the air crew has to decide during an emergency 0:23:22.850,0:23:26.990 situation which a lot of people donít do a whole lot of medevacs, uh to be a little 0:23:26.990,0:23:33.850 bit amped up, and try to force something when it could turn catastrophic. 0:23:33.850,0:23:40.850 A significant priority for helicopters on incidents has been response to medical emergencies. 0:23:41.100,0:23:46.299 Each of these emergencies differ in the extent of the emergency or illness as well as the 0:23:46.299,0:23:52.919 terrain the patient is in. This has encouraged a wide range of tools to engage various situations 0:23:52.919,0:23:57.880 while the safest approach continues to be having the helicopter set down on an improved 0:23:57.880,0:24:04.730 helispot, this is not always feasible and still include risks. In response, the National 0:24:04.730,0:24:09.110 Park Service has adopted the use of short haul techniques for extraction on many of 0:24:09.110,0:24:14.760 its helicopters. The Office of Air and Marine has also made widespread use of this technique 0:24:14.760,0:24:21.130 throughout the rugged country of southern Arizona. As you gear up for the season, lets 0:24:21.130,0:24:26.330 appreciate the remarkable tool that helicopters have become and lets envision their future 0:24:26.330,0:24:28.279 through the unique capabilities they offer.