Los Angeles County Fire Air Operations

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With the largest fleet of firefighting helicopters in Southern California, the Los Angeles County Fire Department covers some 4,000 square miles that includes mountains that are over 10,000 feet high, Catalina Island 26 miles off the coast, and the ocean in-between. Their Air Operations Section has a fleet that includes three Sikorsky S-70's, a civilian version of the UH-60 Blackhawk flown by the military, known as Firehawks, and six Bell 412's.

Other than the National Guard, they are the only fire department that flies Sikorsky's. "There are a couple of private contractors that contract to the U.S. Forest Service but there are no departments, fire departments, that have Blackhawks or Firehawks," explains Vance Colvig a pilot in the Air Operations Section.

They are called to all kinds of emergencies including swiftwater and blue water rescues and rescues of both human and horses in the mountains, day or night. However, a majority of their responses are trauma calls. The helicopters water drops are also invaluable during a fire.

Each helicopter carries one pilot and two firefighter/paramedics. Depending on the aircraft, the firefighter may have a different job to do. "In the Hawk, the firefighters will stay in the Hawk because we have a snorkel on the other side, " said Rafael Ortiz. The firefighter's job is to make sure the pilot is over the water so the snorkel can fill the 1,000 gallon tank.

It is a different operation to fill the 412's 360 gallon tank. "In the 412 because they're not snorkeled currently, they're talking about doing it, we will land and will pick up water from a ground source," Ortiz said.  

One place they can get water is at one of LA County's pre-designated helispots. On large fires, the firefighter on board may have to act as a TOLC, or Take-Off and Landing Coordinator, at a helispot. "We could have as many as 20 aircraft, all in a very confined space in very dangerous conditions so the person at the helispots controls that little bit of airspace on the helispot so that everyone lands and takes off without incident," Ortiz explained.  

However, as the pilot explains, they are the support piece of the firefighting puzzle. "We don't put out fire, we suppress fire until the ground resources, the bulldozers and the hand crews and the engines, can get there and contain the fire, but we cannot contain fire," Colvig said. 

The Air Operations Section started in 1957 with one pilot and one mechanic. Today, there is a shop on site where they constantly rotate their nine ships in and out. With an average of 350 flying hours a month on all ships combined, maintenance and inspections are very important.

Along with the mechanics on duty, there's always a mechanic, a mechanic's helper and a quality assurance representative on-call. When a large fire breaks out in the county, a mechanic will go to the helibase in a helicopter support vehicle. "If there's a fire outside the county, they'll send a mechanic with it, most of the time, and we'll support the aircraft outside of the county," Jose Murillo a senior helicopter mechanic said. "They stay on the ground and they stay in contact with the crews. It's to better serve the crew and the helicopter to make sure we can continue to fight fire."


Author:Barbara Brooks - FDNNTV.com