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Show Heli-Rappel firefighters mount skids on both sides of ' helicopter preparatory to loading far takeoff Lead BRYCE Ready at any moment mo-ment for an initial attack on wildfires, nine members of the Payette National Forest Heli-Rappel Heli-Rappel Crew out of McCall, Ida. are stationed at the Dave's Hollow Hol-low Forest Service station located just off the Tropic Reservoir Road. There are two helicopters and two units out of McCall, one based at Price Valley and one at Kiassel. Both units train, operate and react identically with one another to be able to transfer as needed between units. Both teams travel everywhere and anywhere giving initial response re-sponse on fires and full out fire fighting throughout the U.S. The group rappels out of a high elevation eleva-tion French helicopter, an Allou-ette Allou-ette III, taking their own pilot and mechanic on every run they make. This particular pilot has over 25 years experience. The copter will hold six crew members mem-bers and the pilot. Because the copter is French-made, its rotar turns in the opposite direction from American-made helicopters. The heli group uses its helicopter for bucket drops, transporting trans-porting personnel and cargo, reconnaissance, medical evacuations evacua-tions and initial attacks on fires. Members of these crews have extensive fire suppression training and are required to have at least a full year of fire suppression before applying to jump. There are some 20 to 30 such fire crews in the U.S., located mostly in the western states. The groups travel extensively and have had crews in Canada, Mexico, the Virgin Islands and Hawaii. The rappel units have an 80 to 90-percent retention rate from year to year so recruitment is almost unnecessary and competition keen for the few slots available. The crew members work well together and are close, synchronized synchron-ized professionals on and off the job. They enjoy both the adrenaline adrena-line rush that comes from first attacking fires and the satisfaction satisfac-tion from conquering the blaze. Their work is strenuous physically and emotionally. Firefighters prepare daily, working out one hour each morning, doing push ups, sit ups, pull ups, running, ' pack-hiking even playing hard with very physical games. If they do not have an actual fire into which to rappel, they must perform a proficiency jump every 14 days to keep in shape. The crew can rappel in immediately adjacent to a fire on any type of terrain. They are required to be in flight within 10 minutes of being called out on a fire and can be on the ground within 10 minutes upon arrival at any fire scene. Rappellers are not limited where they can go except they cannot jump when winds are stronger than 35 mph and they are limited by their 250-foot rappel crew members conduct final checks on fire-fighters and equipment at Daves Hollow near Bryce Canyon. Heli-Rappel Firefighters Practice Techniques To Attack Wildfires rope. Crew members initially must train on rappelling for two weeks before going out on actual fires. Each crew member will carry approximately 90 pounds, of fire fighting gear and equipment that has been dropped into a fire. The helicopter and crew can drop anything into a fire site extra hoses, water, food, tools and medical supplies. This particular helicopter is contracted for only 90 days in the height of the fire season and can cost up to $700 an hour to operate. In the "off season," these same fire fighters perform all types of valuable services such as working on prescribed burns and other forest projects, timber planting plant-ing and thinning, recreation, range mangement, wildlife assistance assist-ance and trail maintenance. At Dave's Hollow both the pilot and the mechanic stay in the residence there and fellow fire fighters sleep in tents on the grounds. Crew members frequent local restaurants for their daily meals. They are always on alert and must be ready to pull up and leave at a moment's notice. They wear a harness and specialized gear for rappeling. Prior to taking off for a potential rappel crew members receive assignments as to who is the spotter, marker, and positioning in the helicopter. By twos, each set of fire fighters carefully and meticulously check one another before they even take to the air. They have a memorized checklist they go over mentally and visually making certain each fire fighter has a helmet, microphones, micro-phones, harness, hooks, rope, etc. all in place, connected and functioning func-tioning properly. When there are cargo drops to be made, crews carry out parcels and hook them methodically method-ically to the undercarriage of the helicopter for later release. Just before crew members load onto the copter they mount the skids of either side of the craft and their hookup and equipment are once again checked by the lead team member. Safety is the utmost order of the day for each and every heli-rappel. heli-rappel. Because the turning of the rotars on the helicopter (See Heli-Rappel Firefighters Practice on Page 4-A) Heli-Rappel Firefighters From Front Page turning creates tremendous wind and noise, team members often wear ear plugs and do all communicating by hand signals or through microphone connections. When they arrive at a fire they do a cargo let down of gear and tools before letting down any fire fighters. Crew members can stay out on a fire for up to three days and have radios for communicating. Crews work for 21 days on and have two days off and are comprised of both married and single individuals. Once on the ground they perform like any other fire fighter. Over 20,000 rappels have been performed in the system without any "loss time" due to accident. While on down time, crew members spend much of their time checking over equipment, sharpening tools and honing their skills. The crew expresses , their appreciation for local members of the Dixie National Forest Service office for their hospitalily and support each summer. So far these crews have responded to fires in Milford, Panguitch L,ake, Kanab and have assisted on controlled burns when contacted. These combined crews are comprised of Mike Hodge, pilot, Seattle, Wash.; Donny Simpson, mechanic, Cheyenne, Wyo.; Vince Welbaum, helicopter supervisor, su-pervisor, New Meadows, Ida.; Mike Summerfield, assistant, New Meadows, Ida.; Deborah Hulse, lead crewman, Meadows, Id.; Sean Aidukas, San Diego, Calif.; Delia Hawkins, Twin Falls, Ida.; Dustin Doane, Shelby, Mont.; Birgit Hausen, Grand I Junction, Colo.; Christy Salter, I Fairbanks, Aka.; Suzanne I Haslemann, Donnelly, Ida.; David I Crumb, Meadows, Ida.; Rod Dines, New Meadows, Ida.; Seth Weber, Sagamore Hills, Ohio.; Travis Turrentine, Webster, NC; Todd Pederson, Bend, Ore. and Patrick Kearn, Clovis, Calif. |