Helicopters at airport helping in severe fire season

An agreement, new this year, allows state firefighting helicopters to park at the Grand Coulee Dam Airport and that's helping put out local fires sooner than later.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has an emergency-use agreement with Grant County Port District 7 to pay $1,500 a month to keep two helicopters parked at the airport, plus $750 for each additional one that may go there, based on available space.

"It looked like a strategic place for us," said Russ Lane, assistant division manager of DNR's Wildfire Division, Operations and Aviation. 

The local airports proximity to fire activity in recent years, plus the fact it does not have a lot of "fixed wing traffic," were said to make the spot a good fit for DNR.

"Going into the future it will probably be longer term," Lane said about the agreement. 

DNR sites similar bases in Deer Park and Omak. 

The helicopters parked at the airport can respond to fires within roughly a 100-mile radius, and have worked the Summit Trail, Whitmore and Chuweah fires on the Colville Reservation, and as far out as fires in the Methow area this summer.

"They're going out every day unless weather or smoke prohibits us from flying," Lane said. 

One helicopter stationed at the airport is a Blackhawk UH60, the UH standing for utility helicopter. It cruises at about 140 miles per hour and is primarily used for dropping water onto fires. Its 1,100-gallon tank gets filled via a snorkel attached to a pump that sucks the water up into the tank.

Another helicopter, the UH1 or "Huey" as it's often called, has a 325-gallon tank.

DNR owns 10 Hueys.

Lane described a Huey as a "primary initial attack" aircraft because it "goes out quick after small fires."

Finally, a National Guard Chinook helicopter is also sometimes stationed at the airport. It can be used for both water and personnel transport. For water, it uses a bucket that carries roughly 2,000 gallons.

Having those helicopters at the airport has "vastly improved response times," Lane said. "By being in Electric City, where a lot of fires happen, they're able to jump on them really fast."

The helicopters were able to respond quickly to recent fires at Northrup Canyon and Osborn Bay, just a hop, skip, and jump from the airport, and to one in the Rex Del Rio area near SR-174. Lane said that recently, the Blackhawk was returning from one fire and spotted a new one near Coulee City.

Recent lightning storms that were "pretty much dry," Lane said, started somewhere between 60 and 80 fires across Northeast Washington.

"Most of them were caught small," he said, "a few got big like Whitmore. We catch 95% of fires at the initial attack phase. A couple are going to get away when there are 80."

After a storm passes, it's usually fixed-wing aircraft that fly over the area to look for new ignitions, he explained.

"This is as dry a year as I've seen in 34 seasons of firefighting," Lane said, having worked in Washington and Oregon during his career. "The fuels are critically dry and it's challenging firefighters. We've set all-time records on numerous days for fire danger and fuel severity."

The pilots who fly the helicopters typically stay in hotel rooms.

"Their job requires so much attention to detail and is stressful," Lane said. "We try to get the pilots in hotels. Sometimes the support crew camps on site. Under these conditions, as hard as we're running people, as long as we are, we're trying to get everybody associated with aviation into hotels. If there's a mistake, there is a high potential for loss of life, and so we want everybody as sharp as we can get them."

Usually a pilot will specialize in one helicopter, but sometimes they are qualified to fly multiple.

"It's not as easy as jumping out of a Prius into a Ford pickup," Lane said about helicopters having different controls.

Pilots are limited to eight hours of flight per day or 36 hours within six days, at which point a relief pilot will be brought in, sometimes only for a day or two while the other pilot takes the day off.

The Huey requires just a single pilot. The Blackhawk and Chinook require two, so sometimes two relief pilots are brought in.

With fires getting responded to quickly, the relationship between DNR and the community is symbiotic. 

"We really appreciate the partnership with the community there," Lane said. "The hospitality is great. It's a good place for our people to be, and it's a really effective base to be at."

"I think it's a needed endeavor with the airport," Airport Manager Bob Babler told The Star Monday. "The Osborn Bay fire, that would have gotten around the corner. That was really lucky the helicopter stopped that."

"The helicopter crews like it out there, we just don't have a lot of room for four [helicopters]," Babler said. "We'll see how it works out and see what the pros and cons are - and what they need changed and what we need changed."