Help From The Sky: Locals Train With CG Helo

PLEASANT LAKE – Local first responders are used to meeting rescue helicopters in the field at Cape Tech. But not ones that can carry up to 30 people, or travel 250 miles offshore in bad weather, plucking survivors from the water.

 In a training session organized by Harwich Harbormaster John Harker and Fire Chief David LeBlanc, a Coast Guard HH-60 helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod visited last Wednesday to help local firefighters and harbormaster staff learn about their capabilities.

 “This is a great opportunity for our maritime first responders,” Harker said. A Coast Guard veteran himself, Harker has worked extensively with rescue helicopters and said the time is right for local rescuers to learn to work more closely with Coast Guard aviators so they can better respond to emergencies on the water. First responders from other Lower Cape towns and Dennis were invited to attend the training session, known as a “static display.”

 Unlike MedFlight helicopters, small aircraft designed to carry a single patient, the HH-60 Jayhawk is built on the same frame as military Blackhawk choppers and is equipped with extra fuel tanks for extended range, pumps that can be lowered to vessels that are taking on water, and a rescue hoist.

 “It’s a completely different beast,” Harker said. 

 In the wake of the Coast Guard’s decision to downgrade Station Chatham’s rescue boat capabilities, harbormasters in Chatham and Harwich have sought to build a more robust fleet of local rescue boats that are better equipped to work with rescue helicopters. Chatham has two such boats currently, and Harwich town meeting voters recently approved $425,000 to purchase and equip one. A debt exclusion for that purchase will need to be approved by voters at the annual town election May 19.

 Local harbormasters’ staff members and firefighters had a chance to explore the HH-60 and the equipment it carries. They learned that the helicopter typically deploys with a crew of four: a pilot, co-pilot, rescue swimmer and flight mechanic. Crew members are trained EMTs capable of providing basic life support. 

 Last week’s training session was postponed twice, once because of bad weather and another time because of the partial government shutdown, Harker said. There will be additional training opportunities, including sessions that will allow local first responders to facilitate tricky hoist rescues. The goal, he said, is to make local waters safer by ensuring coverage by “multiple layers of maritime first responders.”