Firefighting Helicopter Rescue

Helicopters can go where no other vehicle can go, which has made them popular for use in rescue missions, especially in firefighting. Their extensive use as firefighting vehicles probably prompted the popularity of their use as a rescue vehicle for fires. However, they are now used nearly as extensively as rescue vehicles as firefighting. There is one within a couple hours flight time of nearly everywhere in the United States. The Federal government has helicopters that it sends to places that have forest fires and other large fires. During times of emergency, these are dispatched to help deal with the fires or emergencies.

History of Helicopter Rescue

The first helicopter rescue was done in a Sikorsky helicopter in 1944 in Burma, and since then the helicopter has been used as a rescue vehicle in all areas and situations where a ground vehicle is unable to approach. Fire rescue is one of the most common reasons to use a helicopter as a rescue vehicle because fires tend to cause areas to become unapproachable.

Famous Rescue Missions

-One of most famous rescue missions of all time was during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. About 60,000 people were stranded in New Orleans after the Katrina disaster. Helicopters flew into New Orleans and rescued people for hours and hours on end, delivering people from the storm. The US Coast Guard rescued the most people, rescuing 33500 out of the 60000 people stranded. Helicopter pilots and crews had to be forced to sleep because the wanted to work such long hours to save more people.

-Another famous rescue mission by helicopter is the mission to rescue a Slovenian by the name of Tomaz. He was hanging on the side of a cliff for seven days in the cold awaiting the arrival of two helicopters. The helicopters came in dangerously close to Tomaz, but were unable to get very close due to the rock cliff. One of them finally was able to get in close enough that a line was tossed to Tomaz that he secured to himself. With the blades nearly touching the rock, he finally got the rope secured and gave them a thumbs up. He had forgotten to untie himself from the rope he was already on, however. As the helicopter began to pull away, the other rope snapped, preventing a disaster.

Other rescue missions have merited noting but are unable to be outlined here either due to the lack of information, or the lack of room. These rescuers deserve to be held in high esteem and given the recognition they deserve.