MISSION STATEMENT

The United States Wildland Firefighters Associations mission shall be to work on behalf of it's Wildland Firefighter and support personnel membership and to enhance their careers by

Listening to our members and understanding those issues which are important to them.

Assisting individual members in resolving employment issues.

Supporting legislation at the national,state and local level which furthers our member interests.

Speaking out on behalf of our members and promoting the honor and integrity of our profession.


HAI Announces Recipient of the 2009 Igor I. Sikorsky Award for Humanitarian Service


HAI is proud to announce the 2009 Igor I. Sikorsky Award for Humanitarian Service recipient, Grand Canyon National Park Helitack, Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters, Grand Canyon, Arizona.

Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters provides a full 365 day a year service contract which includes pilots, mechanics, and support vehicles to preserve and protect the visitors and resources of the Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon National Park Helitack provides search & rescue services, medical evacuations, short-haul rescues, and an aerial search platform. During the summer the helitack program is also staffed with fourteen firefighters who provide wildland support including fire initial attack, heli-rappel firefighter deployment, long line cargo support, passenger transport, water bucket support, and other large fire logistical support.

On August 16, 2008, Havasu Canyon, a popular side canyon of the Grand Canyon, flooded as a result of heavy, localized, monsoon rains. That evening, the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received word that five unmanned rafts had been seen floating down the Colorado River with supplies and personal floatation devices aboard.

At approximately 10:45 a.m. the next day, a Grand Canyon National Park Helitack helicopter found the boating party stranded on a ledge at the confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River. A plan was conceived by the flight crew that the safest and most efficient way to get the people to safety was to rig the aircraft for short-haul and evacuate them on a long line across Havasu Canyon to a safe landing area. Once in position, the rescuers outfitted each boater in a rescue triangle and climbing helmet. The evacuation required precision flying under difficult conditions due to the tight canyon and the need to hover for prolonged periods in close proximity to the canyon wall. Eventually all the members of the boating party were evacuated.

The Grand Canyon National Park Helitack crew provides the highest level of service through effective crew resource management, ground training, and skill proficiency. They fly in excess of 450 flight hours in the Grand Canyon annually.

All winners will be recognized at HELI-EXPO 2009’s annual “Salute to Excellence” Awards Banquet on February 23, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. in Anaheim, California. For more information about the 2009 “Salute to Excellence” Awards Banquet, contact HAI’s Communications Department at 703-683-4646, fax: 703-683-4745, or email: rotor@rotor.com. For more information on HELI-EXPO 2009, visit www.heliexpo.com.



SAN DIEGO – Two of the region's biggest firefighting agencies signed a historic agreement Monday lifting the ban that kept the city's helicopters from dropping water at night over state owned lands.


The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, now known as Cal Fire, is the agency responsible for responding to most major wildfires.
Citing safety issues, it has long banned water dropping helicopters from flying at night because of the inherent dangers pilots face when navigating in remote and often times unfamiliar areas. More than one million acres of land, mostly in the county's backcountry, are controlled by the state.
But the agency's approach to fighting fires was heavily criticized after the 2003 and 2007 wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and left several people dead.
When public officials identified the inability to fly at night as one of the primary problems facing the agency, the county Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a recommendation aimed at changing the policy.
County Supervisors Pam Slater-Price likened the ban on night flying to having “one hand tied behind our backs.”
With Santa Ana conditions expected to envelope the region on Wednesday, the ability to fight fires at night from the air will greatly add to the region's firefighting arsenal and could not have come at a better time, fire officials said.
San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Tracy Jarman and Cal Fire Unit Chief Howard Windsor signed the arrangement on Monday. They were joined by Mayor Jerry Sanders, who said the new policy will be a tremendous benefit for firefighting efforts throughout the region.
The mayor called the agreement “monumental” and said it will greatly reduce the likelihood that wildfires that start in the back country will reach homes and businesses in the city.
“Fire knows no boundaries,” he said.
Windsor called the new policy a “huge paradigm shift” and said that he hopes that once the true benefits of nighttime water dropping are evaluated that Cal Fire will make it routine.
He said the agency will also look to either retrofit its firefighting aircraft, which are currently not equipped to drop water at night, or buy new aircraft as the budget allows.
Other than the city and county of Los Angeles, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department is the only municipal agency in the country that allow firefighting helicopters to drop water at night.
San Diego's Copter 1, and the newly acquired Copter 2, are staffed around the clock and are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment including night-vision goggles used by the U.S. military.
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THE DROP ZONE 2008