By Salvador Hernandez
The Orange County Register
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — Firefighter Eric Payne hooked himself to the hoist of the helicopter and, hovering hundreds of feet in the air, stepped outside with confidence.
Lowered quickly on a thin line, he and fellow firefighter Chuck Hawkins prepare a metal basket and flash the sign to raise it back to the hovering helicopter.
This time there are only safety supplies in the basket, but it’s all part of their certification training for air rescues. With two new twin-engine helicopters — which are housed in a now wider hangar in Fullerton — county firefighters are responding to more rescue calls by air than ever before.
From 2003 to 2009, helicopters from the Orange County Fire Authority responded to an average of 240 calls a year. Most of those calls are reports of brush fires that are quickly extinguished or end up being false alarms. About 60 were for air rescues for injured hikers or stranded swimmers.
Fire officials are using the new choppers more these days. The new Bell 412 helicopters provide better control, use an external hoist to pull people from rough terrain and can be used over water as well. They fly out of the Fullerton Municipal Airport.
“These are like a Swiss army knife,” Capt. Dave A. Lopez said.
When it comes to rough-terrain rescues, fire officials are finding that using the helicopters can help prevent injuries to firefighters and extract patients faster.
By early 2009, OCFA received the two Bell helicopters. Before that, it relied on two single-blade UH-1Y “Super Huey” helicopters that were flown during the Vietnam War.
In 2010 — because of increased reliance on air rescues — firefighters from the OCFA’s helicopter unit were called a total of 302 times, said Fire Capt. Ric Schultz. “It’s not that there are more rescue (calls),” Schultz said. “This is a tool we can use to our advantage.”
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