More than 200 people are alive today, thanks to a trio of evacuation missions flown by a California National Guard UH- 60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook. The rescue flights took place over a period of 10 hours during the catastrophic Creek Fire on Sept. 5, 2020.


The airlift of vacationers trapped at the Mammoth Lake Reservoir north of Fresno, California, was staged amidst tall flames, high winds, dense smoke, airborne embers, and incredibly poor visibility. To make matters worse, the flights took place after sunset. So the helicopter crews donned night vision goggles to guide their way, using the light emitted by burning trees and embers to see the ground.


Despite the extremely dangerous flying conditions, Black Hawk Pilot Chief Warrant Officer Kipp Goding and Chinook Pilot Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Rosamond repeatedly landed close to the fire to rescue vacationers. The fast-advancing flames meant that time was not on their side.


“We decided to pack as many people in as we could,” Rosamond told ABC News. “At that point our performance limitations were very, very close to the maximum capabilities of the aircraft, at least for the Chinook.” But the aircraft came through, nevertheless, as the pilots chose to save as many lives as possible even as they risked their own.


Goding, who has flown for 25 years including in overseas combat, described the Creek Fire rescue missions as “definitely by far the toughest flying that I’ve ever done. Every piece of vegetation as far as you could see around the lake was on fire.”


In recognition of their heroic efforts, these men and five crew members of the 40th Combat Aviation Brigade were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. For the record, the other worthy recipients were WO1 Ge Xiong, CW2 Irvin Hernandez, CW2 Brady Hlebain, Sgt. Cameron Powell, and Sgt. George Esquivel, Jr.


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Photo: California National Guard 68 Nov/Dec 2020


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