Fire Training Takes Flight : Costa Mesa Firefighters, Police Use Copters to Learn to Battle High-Rise Blazes

COSTA MESA — These days, when firefighters here hone their skills, the shiny red trucks are left behind.

Instead, firefighters are being whisked to the scene of their training exercises while clinging to the sides of a police helicopter, hundreds of feet up.

Beneath the rotating blades, the city’s Fire and Police departments are training together to learn how to battle fires in high-rises and other difficult-to-reach places. If the program is approved, it would be the first teaming of firefighters and copters in Orange County.

“We’ve been trying to get something going for some time,” said Sgt. Bill Bechtel of the Costa Mesa police aero bureau. “Even though we patrol and do law enforcement, we still have the ability to use the helicopters to protect life and property.”

The plan to use helicopters stems from the growth of high-rise buildings within the city, officials said. In the event of a blaze, firefighters would be shuttled from the station to the scene while standing on the three-inch-wide skids of a helicopter.

While fires would not be fought from the airborne copters, the helicopters could quickly ferry firefighters over traffic jams and onto roofs or into parking lots near the blazes. Further, the helicopters provide a better view of the flames, smoke and possibly victims.

But it is quite a ride. Using a heavyweight nylon tubing, firefighters sit in a webbed seat which is then hooked onto the helicopter with a metal ring, similar to the type of lock used by mountain climbers. It is their only link to the helicopter itself.

“If we fall off the skid, we’ll fall a couple of feet and dangle,” said Fire Capt. Herb Ohde. “It’s a thrill. . . . It’s definitely an E-ticket ride,” he said, referring to the best rides at Disneyland.

But it’s not all fun and games.

Clutching the sides of the helicopter, firefighters zip through the air at speeds between 55 and 70 m.p.h. Firefighter Bruce Pulgencio said the trip is surprisingly less windy than one might expect. “It feels stable and secure,” he said.

Nonetheless, “if you’re scared of heights, it might be a little tough,” Pulgencio said. “You look down and you see your feet--and the ground 500 feet below.”

Officials said the height also provides fire commanders with a bird’s-eye view of the situation. On the ground, “all they can see is a bundle of smoke,” Bechtel said.

With the use of an infrared sensor attached to the helicopter, firefighters said they can pinpoint the source of the fire before a single firefighter is deployed. The hot spot “stands out like a sore thumb,” Pulgencio said.

Other benefits include being able to evacuate victims from the roofs of burning buildings. Pulgencio said they could remove three people at a time--although they would ride on the inside of the helicopter, not outside, like the firefighters.

While officials concur that such dramatic instances would be rare, “we want to be proactive,” Pulgencio said.

Fire and police officials say they expect to put together a policy later this year. Nonetheless, Bechtel said, “if we had a high-rise structure fire tonight we would use it (the helicopter).”

The Costa Mesa proposal comes a year after a Los Angeles police helicopter evacuated people from a high-rise, he said. That city’s Fire Department is seeking to adopt a program similar to the one Costa Mesa has initiated, Bechtel said.

Once a policy is enacted, all of the department’s 110 firefighters will receive formal training. The cost of adopting such a program would be minimal, Bechtel said, because the helicopters are already being used by police. The only cost involved would be for training and the development of a policy, Bechtel said.

So far only a handful of firefighters have participated in three drills which began in December. “This is just a learning and development stage,” Ohde said.

Yet, even with limited training, firefighters already know when it would be advantageous to enlist the aid of the aero bureau.

“The big savings on time is for the high-rise,” Pulgencio said. Firefighters using conventional trucks are delayed by having to weave through traffic, and once on the scene, they cannot begin battling the blaze until everyone is evacuated. With helicopters, the traffic is avoided, and firefighters deposited on the roof can begin tackling the flames before everyone is out, authorities said.

“Because I fly helicopters, I wanted to get the two together,” said Pulgencio, who is also a pilot with the National Guard.

“It’s a real good natural high. It’s like an out-of-aircraft experience,” Pulgencio said. Standing on a thin strip of steel while suspended 500 feet in the air is an incomparable feeling he said.

How does it compare to riding the tail board of a fire engine? “We don’t get to do that anymore,” Pulgencio said. “It’s too unsafe.”