Firefighting


When STAR Flight teams are called on by local fire departments to help wildland firefighters on the ground, they are able to provide direct aerial fire suppression and/or serve as an air attack coordinator providing information about the fire such as direction of travel, hot spots, threatened structures, and areas that firefighters may need to address immediately. Direct aerial suppression is STAR Flight’s most common fire service. All three aircraft can use Bambi Buckets to drop water, and STAR Flight is


working on adding underbelly tanks that crews will be able to install in about a half hour. During fire season, one aircraft will always have the tank installed to facilitate an immediate response to any fire calls.


STAR Flight is dispatched through the same 911 systems as fire and ambulance services. The program is utilized within the county as a first response Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance. This means that the STAR Flight aircraft may


arrive on scene in rural areas before the ground ambulance does. Any high-priority medical request call that will take ground units more than 20 minutes to reach will trigger automatic dispatch of aircraft to the scene. This is the main reason why STAR Flight is different from other EMS air operations. Most air programs are not requested until an emergency unit arrives at the scene and determines that a helicopter is needed.


STAR Flight is dispatched through the same 911 systems as fire and ambulance services.


This means that many times a STAR Flight aircraft may arrive on scene in rural areas before the ground ambulance.


68


Sep/Oct 2019


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