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spr ing
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summer
1:02-1:05 pm:
Air Ops helicopter arrives at La Cumbre Junior High
School; an ambulance waits to transport the victim to the hospital.
1:55 pm:
Air Ops crew has signed off to the ground paramedics, flown
back to Santa Ynez Airport, unpacked and re-readied the helicopter; the
crew is back in quarters at Fire Station 32 at Santa Ynez Airport.
“It was textbook for us, and done expeditiously due to our training
missions,” Captain O’Neill says after the ordeal. “We are always ready
at any moment,” he adds, “to be part of cooperative assistance for
Montecito Fire Department in any mission. Air Ops is just another fire
station,” he continues, “except we jump into aircraft instead of fire
engines when we get a call. We are firefighters coming from the sky.”
In addition to assisting in fighting fires, as in the recent Tea Fire
where O’Neill and crews handled water drops for more than the first 24
Fire Fighter Paramedic Tim Gailey in scuba gear with fins being hoisted into the Air
Ops helicopter during a water rescue training mission at Lake Cachuma
A harnessed Captain/Crew Chief Gordon O’Neill on the skid holding rescue
harness-hoist during water rescue training mission at Lake Cachuma; from this key
position, he can guide the pilot to the location to hoist the victims and Fire Fighter
Paramedics
With Fire Station 32 down the hill on the left, Air Ops helicopter 309 takes
off from Santa Ynez airport for a training mission
Air Ops team members are (from left, front row): Captain/Crew Chief
Gordon O’Neill, FF Paramedic Tim Gailey, FF Paramedic Eric Gray,
FF Paramedic Jason Haley, Captain/Crew Chief Guy Smith, Engineer
Dave Milner; (back row, from left) Captain Tom Himmelrich, Pilot Chris
Spangenberg, Mechanics Jason Scarborough and Dan Noore