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“Fire in the Hills”

Strategic Withdrawal

The fire can be seen through NVGs after clearing the departure lights with ETA 33 minutes. On arrival the blaze is clearly visible above the helipad, eating along the ridge line Northwest of town. The winds predominately are out of the southwest pushing the fire away from the town. Still this is a precarious situation depending on the whim of wind. Parts of the town are being evacuated as a precaution. The extent of the blaze in the near distance yields an awe and primal angst in the crew, and in particular, with the pilot. Fretting he concludes that he might have to leave if the wind shifts. This transfer now becomes  a “dust off “ or “scoop and run” transport, with a rush to assume care, prepare and move patient to flight stretcher,  load and secure for lift. Smoke hangs, drifts, swirls and permeates, stinging and blurring sight. Distant sirens screams bounce their echos against the igneous basalt coulee walls that surround the town.

Bedside time is carved to four minutes with total land to lift time of 9 minutes. Hasty retreating in returning, the helicopter lifts easily in the updraft, turning tail so that the blaze disappears into the past.