Rockland wants to purchase new emergency helicopte

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Rockland wants to purchase new emergency helicopter

By SARAH NETTER

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: August 21, 2006)

Officials want to retire the county's 32-year-old emergency helicopter and purchase a new $3.25 million model.

Dan Greeley, assistant director of fire and emergency services, said the helicopter has been used in a variety of missions, from search and rescue to lighting up a dark area for emergency workers.

"It goes up quite a bit," he said.

Among its recent high-profile missions were the aftermath of the suicide of Hejin Han at Bear Mountain State Park in June, and the 2005 murder of Mary Nagle in New City.

But, built in 1974, the yellow chopper is lacking in its technology and rescue capabilities.

Greeley said a new chopper would have more advanced radio and global positioning systems. It would also have a rappelling capability to send rescue workers by rope down to hard-to-reach sites, such as on Bear Mountain.

"It could save hours," he said.

The new model would also include a winch, or hoist, to lower a basket or flotation device down via cable.

Now in the earliest of planning stages, the request for the new helicopter, sent from the County Executive's Office, was tabled at a recent meeting of the county Legislature's Public Safety Committee.

County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef said Friday that it's more expensive to continually repair and replace parts of the helicopter than to buy a new one.

"It's like a car," he said.

And there's an obvious safety issue for the county's pilots, Vanderhoef said, should the chopper break down during use.

Legislator and committee Chairman David Fried, D-Spring Valley, said he and other committee members wanted more information before voting to send the request on to the full Legislature.

The committee, he said, has requested a record of all incidents the helicopter has been called to, along with the types of calls.

Fried said he would also like to know the capabilities of the equipment on the new helicopter and what it would cost to maintain.

"An expenditure as significant as this requires scrutiny," he said.

If the county can get the committee the requested information by next month, the request will be discussed again at next month's meeting.

"My hope is they are asking for the information to help them come to the same conclusion we did," Vanderhoef said of the committee.

Sgt. Ken Johnston of the county Sheriff's Department said the current helicopter was purchased in Canada in the mid-1980s.

Johnston is one of six volunteer pilots for the chopper, and he was flying it the night Han drove her car off a cliff on Bear Mountain with her two children strapped into the back seat.

That night, rescuers also had to pull up a hiker who had become stranded while trying to help at the accident site, and an emergency worker who became stuck while trying to reach the hiker.

"We basically lit up the area for the rescue teams," Johnston said.

The chopper has continued to get more and more requests, Johnston said, and has been going up several times a month.

"It's just limited in its capabilities due to its size and equipment on board," he said.

Greeley said the new helicopter would be able to hold four to five people, depending on their weight, and heavier equipment. The current helicopter can hold three or four people.

Westchester Public Safety Commissioner Tom Belfiore said his county's helicopter also has seen a lot more action in recent years.

Next month, Westchester will get a new $3.5 million helicopter — and it will cost $4.5 million after it is equipped.

In addition to assisting emergency workers at accidents, crime scenes and police pursuits, the Westchester chopper flies daily to survey the county's "sensitive areas," Belfiore said, including the Indian Point nuclear power plants, the Hudson River and the Tappan Zee Bridge.

Westchester County's current helicopter is a 1967 model, obtained for free as military surplus. Belfiore said the chopper had been restored after being shot down twice in Vietnam.

Vanderhoef said that he has had informal conversations with Bergen County, N.J., officials about their using Rockland's new helicopter and helping to defray the operating costs. Bergen does not have its own helicopter.

Greeley said he hoped Rockland would receive its new helicopter within two years. If the Legislature approves the money, the county will seek bids from manufacturers.

[res6cue 67]

Sure would be nice to have a newer model, no question about it. We get quite a lot of use out of that thing, but it has next to no real rescue capability. I wonder what models they're looking at replacing it with.