The Baker County press., August 28, 2015, Image 11

FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2015
Local & Entertainment
Helicopter training
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
The aircraft had been
airborne for about six
hours prior to that, collect-
ing water from Murphy’s
dip, near Highway 26
leaving Unity, before the
engine rpm changed, and
the aircraft started losing
altitude.
The helicopter experi-
enced a hard landing (as
opposed to a crash), and
rolled over on its side.
The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA)
reported that there was
“substantial damage” to
the helicopter, and the FAA
and National Transporta-
tion Safety Board (NTSB)
continue to investigate the
incident.
Coincidentally, Baker
City Fire Chief Mark John,
Assistant Fire Chief Tom
Everson, Baker Rural
Fire Chief Dan Weitz, and
Baker City Manager Mike
Kee attended a 90-min-
ute orientation at the
Baker City Airport on the
Tuesday prior to the hard
landing, covering different
types of aircraft cur-
rently being used for local
fi refi ghting purposes and
procedures for responding
to emergencies, such as the
aforementioned incident.
John said, “Baker City
and Baker Rural have
a dual response to the
airport, because it’s closer
for them (Baker Rural),
but it’s Baker City prop-
erty,” explaining that the
orientation was primarily
for the purpose of respond-
ing to an emergency at
the airport, and that an
incident could involve both
departments.
“They had quite a few
different helicopters there
(10, according to John),
and the pilots or the me-
chanics were walking us
through emergency shut-
offs, and things like that, in
the event they were going
to have an issue there.”
The group moved from
aircraft to aircraft, and
at least one member of
the crew for each aircraft
explained emergency fuel
The
and other shutoffs, access
points, etc., John said. He
said, “It was good. It was
very informative.“
He said he’d gone
through this type of orien-
tation/training numerous
times in the past, but he
hadn’t been involved with
a major incident involving
aircraft before.
John said, “It’s less than
ideal to put a lot of water
into one of those engines,
because you’ll destroy it,
but if someone’s life is in
danger, and you need to
kill the engine, you can
do that,” speaking about
shutting down an aircraft
engine which is still pow-
ered up, after a landing or
crash, for example.
“The military person-
nel said you could master
stream, like off one of the
big turrets of the (fi re)
engine, and you might be
able to kill the engine, but
with a regular hose stream,
(the aircraft engine) would
just shoot it (the water)
right out the back. It won‘t
even slow that thing down.
You‘d have to put like a
1,000 gallons a minute into
that thing.” He noted the
extra effort that’s required
for the more diffi cult task
of shutting down a Black-
hawk helicopter, one type
of aircraft the group was
familiarized with during
the orientation.
Though John, Baker
County Emergency Man-
agement Fire Division
Manager Gary Timm, and
a few others have aviation
certifi cations, such as fi re
suppression, John said,
“It’s unusual for municipal
fi refi ghters to have aviation
qualifi cations, because it’s
really diffi cult to get the
time in to get qualifi ed.”
Timm said John, Ever-
son, Weitz, Kee, and others
were given an invitation as
a courtesy to the orienta-
tion because of the large
amount of aircraft and
fuel present at the airport,
and the possibility of their
responding to an incident
there.
Other area fi re chiefs
were invited, but couldn’t
attend because of other
commitments.
Timm was also unable
to attend because of other
commitments, he said.
Weitz said, “A risky time
is takeoff,” and also noted
the diffi culty in shutting
down a Blackhawk, an air-
craft he said he hasn’t been
familiarized with before
the orientation.
He said he’s been
through an orientation
or training similar to this
one every year for the last
fi ve years, and the crews
at the airport familiar-
ized the group with how
they would prefer the fi re
departments handle aircraft
emergencies there.
Weitz said, “The worst
thing in the world is to
put water on a fuel fi re. If
you add water to a fuel
fi re, you just spread it, and
CAFS (Compressed Air
Foam System) snuffs it
out. We‘re lucky to have
that.”
The CAFS Weitz re-
ferred to is a fi refi ghting
system, the only one in
eastern Oregon, he said,
that was acquired by Baker
Rural through a grant, and
located at the Lindley fi re
station, near the airport.
Timm mentioned that
some individuals have
asked why the majority of
aircraft were based out of
the airport, and not closer
to area fi res, and he said,
“In some cases, you can
(do that), but it’s a short
fl ight to Eagle Creek, a
short fl ight, even if you
think about it, going to
Unity, where you’re just
right over the top of the
hill.”
John said, “It’s a much
safer location to operate
from.” They both noted the
availability of facilities and
fuels there also.
Timm said that, on April
18 of this year, a scenario
involving a simulated air
show plane crash was
presented at the airport, as
part of the area annual fi re
exercise (as reported by
The Baker County Press’s
Gina K. Swartz on Friday,
April 24).
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THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 11
Bebe’s word search
This week’s crossword puzzle
Across
1- Rights org.;
5- Palm fruits;
10- Chews the fat;
14- Common street
name;
15- Have ___ to pick;
16- Util. bill;
17- Mormon state of
western USA;
18- Dull surface;
19- Rocket launcher;
20- Complete change;
23- Golfer Calvin;
24- Leases;
25- Move forward;
28- Spouse;
30- ___ a soul;
31- Interpret;
36- Rage;
37- Republic in central
Europe;
39- Actor Kilmer;
40- New word or
phrase;
42- Falafel holder;
43- Villainous charac-
ter in Shakespeare’s
“Othello”;
44- Cricket team;
46- Simple seat;
49- Farm machine;
51- Planes, trains, and
automobiles, e.g.;
56- Leaf tool;
57- Perspire;
58- Oil of ___;
60- Citrus coolers;
61- Bobby of the Black
Panthers;
62- Challenge to com-
plete a task;
63- Bears’ lairs;
64- Expressed disap-
proval;
65- Break, card game;
Down
1- ___ Darya (Asian
river);
2- Suffragist Carrie;
3- One telling tales;
4- Sad;
5- Maiden;
6- Behind;
7- From head ___;
8- ___’acte (intermis-
sion);
9- Appear;
10- Polite;
11- Actor Delon;
12- Intoxicate;
13- Examines closely;
21- Maiden name indi-
cator;
22- Bohemian;
25- Nabokov novel;
26- Infrequent;
27- Sweet sandwich;
28- Polite address;
29- Raggedy doll;
31- Threesome;
32- Apt. divisions;
33- Tel ___;
34- London gallery;
35- Enthusiastic vigor
and liveliness;
37- Scores;
38- Early bird?;
41- Pride woman;
42- Time spans;
44- On cloud nine;
45- Permit;
46- Fine fi ddle;
47- Commerce;
48- Like some furni-
ture;
49- Smash;
50- ___ of Two Cities;
52- Hey, over here!;
53- Is in the red;
54- Pearl Buck heroine;
55- Japan’s fi rst capital;
59- “Sure thing”;