By Matt Drange
The Eureka Times Standard
FORTUNA, Calif. — For M. Isaac Lake, fighting fire is who he is, not what he does.
“I love my job,” said Lake, a captain for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “Just about everyone who works here has a passion for the job.”
With rain filling out the forecast lately, it might not feel like peak fire season just yet, but CalFire is ready for that first blaze.
This week the “Helitack” (short for helicopter attack) crew finished training with a series of practice exercises at the Rohnerville Air Attack Base. The Helitack crew is based out of Kneeland for most of the year, but every May, before the start of the fire season, brings in a seasonal crew of about 12 firefighters to train with a modified Vietnam-era UH-1H helicopter, commonly referred to as the “Super Huey.”
Lake became a captain for CalFire in 2007, and feels that there is no better job as a firefighter than working on the Helitack crew.
“In Helitack, you really get a bird’s eye view of the fire,” said Lake. “Because of the aggressive nature of the initial attack, you see it before anyone else has gotten there.”
The helicopter has a 250-mile range, and is able to quickly respond to fires in Humboldt and Del Norte counties with a cruising speed of over 120 mph. There are currently nine Super Hueys across the state, and each is capable of delivering a crew of firefighters to remote areas that often lack adequate roads for a fire truck.
Once firefighters are deployed on the ground, the helicopter is free to monitor the fire from the air and drop buckets of fire retardant. The goal for the team is to contain and prevent the blaze from spreading while they wait for ground assistance, if necessary.
Aside from being the first to arrive at the scene of a fire, the Helitack team also performs “short haul” rescue missions, which is essentially a way to get stranded or injured people out of remote wilderness areas. It involves a firefighter being lowered from the helicopter on a harness to the ground, where he or she secures the victim either to themselves or, if injuries are severe, a basket, to keep the victim immobilized and transport them to either an ambulance on the ground or a nearby hospital.
CalFire initially began the program in 1987 as a way to rescue stranded firefighters; it became part of the emergency response program in 1997. Since performing a rescue mission with “short haul” involves a high level of risk for both the victim and the firefighter, the technique is only used if someone is deemed to be in a life- threatening situation.
Lake estimates that the Kneeland station performs over 100 “initial attacks” over the course of the fire season, which runs from June to November, with one or two short-haul rescues. The time from the initial 911 dispatch to the victim getting medical attention is approximately 45 to 60 minutes, said Lake, depending on the location.
Crystal Henson is the battalion chief for the Kneeland station, and supervises the training operations every year at the Rohnerville base. Henson said that despite the rainy weather, this year’s training was a success.
“It’s great to get the new firefighters in and have cross-training with the guys who have been here for a while,” said Henson, who added that working with the crew is her favorite part. “It’s always a little sad at the end of the summer when they all go home.”
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