I was told LA County Fire will fly the Firehawk with the Tank on at all times. The helicopter will still be able to lift 8000lb so payload won`t be a problem. The S-70s are supposed to be about 800lb lighter than the UH-60L test ship because the military equipment will be deleted ( armoured seats , exhaust suppressors etc.).
Of course the Firehwaks will be used during earthquakes. LA City Fire Air Operations launches 3 helicopters within minutes of any quake larger than a 3.0. One goes to the Harbor area ,one to the downtown area and the 3rd covers the San Fernando Valley area.They check freeways ,Buildings ,dams , hospitals
and general infrastructure. LA County Fire Dept.Air Ops does the same but is backed up with LA Sheriffs helicopters and local police helicopters because of the much larger area that needs to be covered.
One of the reasons LA Sheriffs procured 3 SH-3Hs was to have the ability to transport Deputys to outlying areas of LA County . Normally we have freeways go down so the helicopters are critical forRescue,transport and support of the Jails.
After the 1994 earthquake the Army sent 3 CH-47s down for use by the Sheriffs but because of restrictions the Sheriffs wanted their own heavy lift capability ( the Sea Kings can carry up to 30 deputys when needed.)
One interesting story was a LAPD ASTAR
crew were cruising the foothills of hollywood and then popped up to go over to the Valley and all they saw was BLACK !!
It took a couple seconds to get their bearings and realize a large earthquake had hit.
Within seconds they saw the fires start and began surveying and relaying information to the downtown emergency center.
LA City Fire Dept. launched and started their patrols. The Valley patrol saw a group of homes burning and started doing water drops on the structures with both 205A-1s ,a very rare event as the helicopters hardly ever fight structure fires.
Ill tell you this , you never want to be
on the epicenter of a large earthquake (as i was)especially at 4.30Am in the morning. The 1994 quake was simply incredible...it shook so hard i thought we were getting bombed. Plus, four weeks of aftershocks are REALLY no-fun because you never know how big they`ll get. If i feel the same type shaking again im outta here !!
After the 1994 quake i saw lots of cool helicopters ( i still had enough sense to go take pics). I saw US Customs UH-60As 206Bs TH-57As, Marine Corps SAR UH-1Ns out of El-Toro MCAS , ERA B0-105CBS , Army UH-60s , OH-58A ,UH-1Hs and CH-47Ds. Local Police and Fire helicopters.Plus TV helicopters came in from all over the western USA.
I hope they are doing OK in Seattle...
we can certainly relate down here in LA.
[This message has been edited by Larry (edited 01 March 2001).]