Members of the McCall, ID, Fire and EMS Department recently responded to one of those incidents that quite possibly no one in the fire service has ever planned for. This incident required firefighters to dig deep into their skills and knowledge tool box to establish a plan of action and then implement that plan to rescue someone from a unique situation.
The McCall Fire and EMS Department is a combination agency consisting of 13 full-time firefighters and 35 paid on-call firefighters. The department is commanded by Fire Chief Garrett DeJong who has over 20 years of experience, with the last 15 years as a member of the department. The department operates out of one fire station, staffing one quint, one engine, two water tenders and three ambulances. Their response area covers 100 square miles consisting of a resort community surrounded by national forest land. The department responded to over 2,500 calls for assistance in three counties in TKTK.
Late on the evening of April 22, McCall Fire was dispatched at 8:58 p.m., just as darkness set in, to a report of an aircraft crash into a tree. A pilot was flying his Piper Cub PA-18 towards McCall from Challis, ID, when he became aware that the aircraft was having mechanical problems. Realizing that he was not going to make it to the runway at McCall Airport, the pilot began looking for someplace else to land. Seeing nothing but forest below him, he was able to place the 1,300-pound aircraft into the trees, actually coming to rest in the top of a 60-foot tall tree. Miraculously, the pilot was not injured, but he had no way to get down out of the tree. The pilot was able to call 9-1-1 on his cell phone and provide dispatchers with his GPS coordinates.
Utilizing the GPS coordinates, firefighters were able to determine that the incident was a significant distance from the nearest road. Firefighters recognized that they would have to locate the incident scene and then transport equipment to the location with snowmobiles. Based on their experiences gained in other back-country type rescues, along with information provided by dispatchers, firefighters gathered the equipment that they felt would be needed to accomplish the rescue. This equipment was then loaded into the department’s snowmobile trailer, along with the snowmobiles, for transportation to the trailhead.
Accessing the scene
Once on scene, the first group of mountain snowmobiles headed out to locate the incident site. Meanwhile, the second group prepared another snowmobile for the response by attaching a toboggan to the snowmobile. This toboggan was then loaded with rescue gear which included rope, chain saw and other items. This group then proceeded approximately one mile up the trail where it was then staged until the exact location of the incident was determined.
As both of these groups proceeded up the trail, they were met by several downed trees, the result of heavy snowfall from the past winter. This required that the firefighters clear the trail before they could proceed.
While firefighters were gaining access to the incident site, incident command was established back at the fire station. This provided a location where additional resources could be pre-staged and then sent to the incident scene as their need was identified.
Among the additional resources requested was Lifeflight out of Boise. The Idaho Army National Guard was also requested for a winch-equipped helicopter, however the request was denied as the aircraft and crew would not be available until the next morning. At this point in time, Two Bear Air out of Montana was then requested to send a winch-equipped helicopter. The Two Bear Air helicopter had an estimated 3-hour response time. Meanwhile, Lifeflight arrived in the area and was requested by the incident commander to stage at the McCall Airport as there was a concern that the rotor downwash from hovering over the helicopter could dislodge the aircraft from the top of the tree.
Challenges found on arrival
Arriving on scene, firefighters were amazed to find the aircraft was stuck on the top of the tree. The pilot was able to assist firefighters in locating the wreckage by turning on the aircraft’s lights. During scene size-up, the pilot was able to relay to firefighters that there was no fuel leak and that the aircraft felt remarkably stable in its present position.
Recognizing the complexity of the incident, the incident commander contacted a volunteer firefighter who owned a tree trimming business. This firefighter then responded to the incident with his tree climbing gear and this provided the missing piece on how the firefighters were going to access the aircraft.
As the path into the incident scene was cleared, the second group of firefighters responded in with the snowmobile and toboggan full of equipment. Firefighter’s also had Sno-Cat responding to the incident which would provide lighting for the incident scene.
Rescue plan initiated
Once all of the resources had arrived on-scene, the Operations captain, with the support of the other firefighters, developed a plan for rescuing the pilot. The plan called for the firefighter who is a hazardous tree trimmer—a job that requires him to be able to fell 150-foot Ponderosa Pines that are sandwiched between homes, round by round, lowering each round to the ground, to climb the tree, cutting limbs as he ascended. He would then stop cutting branches once he was 20-feet below the aircraft. He would then climb through these branches to access the aircraft cabin. He had also been instructed to remain in the tree opposite of where the aircraft was resting. During this portion of the operation, the firefighter regularly stopped to conduct a safety assessment of the situation with input from the operations Captain and the pilot.
The firefighter in the tree reported that the aircraft’s left landing gear strut had almost fully wrapped its self around the tree, which made the aircraft very stable. The firefighter added a few pieces of webbing to further stabilize the aircraft to the tree.
At this point, the pilot was placed into a harness. An anchor was established on the tree above the aircraft and the pilot was lowered to the ground. Firefighters utilized a Rescue 8 to belay the pilot to the ground. From the time of the arrival of the first units at the trailhead until the pilot was removed from the tree took approximately two hours.
Challenges encountered
During the incident, firefighters faced many challenges. The first was responding to an incident in a remote area. This challenge was overcome by the department having acquired two snowmobiles specifically for back-country type responses. In addition, this incident would have benefited greatly had a drone been available to help assess the incident scene as well as monitoring the operation.
Assessing the aircraft before placing the plan into action was not possible. There was not a second tree close enough to allow firefighters to survey the aircraft prior to developing their plan. And once the firefighters had climbed the tree, they were unable to assess the aircraft to develop a plan as the rescue operation had already begun.
Adequate scene lighting was a challenge with the incident being a couple of miles from the nearest road, which prevented fire apparatus from getting close enough to utilize its lighting equipment. With the arrival of the Sno-Cat, scene lighting was improved.
Lessons learned
It is important to ensure that you have trained personnel who are comfortable with terminology and equipment when in a real scenario. Tree-trimming equipment, in a few examples, used different terminology. Having a firefighter who was also a tree-trimmer made it possible for effective communications between the various firefighters.
Firefighters should be extremely familiar with their equipment. This includes being familiar with how to place a harness on an individual. By being familiar with your equipment, you will be able to adapt this equipment to various incidents. In this unusual incident, firefighters were able to adapt their high-angle rope rescue equipment to a tree top rescue.
Do not be a “fair-weather firefighter!” Train, drill, and practice when it is raining or snowing. Don’t forget to practice not just at night, but in the dark, such as in a dark room.
During rope rescues, make sure that everyone is crystal clear on what the action plan is. Encourage all participants to ask questions and make suggestions. Assign specific tasks to individuals and then make sure they understand completely what their job is. Do this before you start setting up your operation. As your operation is set up, have team members double and triple check everything.
Do not rush, be smooth and methodical. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
In closing
It is difficult for firefighters to pre-plan every type of incident that could potentially occur within their jurisdiction. Because of this, it is incumbent upon all fire officers to ensure that those firefighters placed in their charge are not just adequately trained in the use of every tool and piece of equipment in their department, but that they are comfortable in using those items.
Fire officers also need to be aware of any special skills that their firefighters may possess. In this incident, the IC recognized early in the incident that the skills possessed by one of his volunteers could possibly benefit the operations plan and played a key role in the successful rescue of the pilot.
In addition, firefighters should also be familiar with and use local resources. Something may occur that requires specialization when none of the responders are specialized. There are generally very willing community members who are experts and who are willing to help. McCall Fire has utilized expert kayakers, who are not on the fire department, to assist in swift water rescue/recovery efforts.
The author would like to thank Fire Chief Garrett DeJong and Captain Brandon Swain for their assistance in writing this article.
