New helicopters to cut rescue response times
Thanks to a new Lakota helicopter, Capt. Darren Chrisman shaved an hour off the response time it normally would take for a Nevada National Guard helicopter to arrive in Southern Nevada for a search-and-rescue mission.
Flying Tuesday to the North Las Vegas Airport from the Guard's Northern Nevada base at Stead near Reno, the $4 million LUH-72A Lakota that the Army obtained for the Nevada Guard made the flight on one tank of fuel in less than three hours.
Otherwise, Chrisman said, flying a Black Hawk or Kiowa OH-58 would mean stopping in Tonopah to fuel up before continuing on a four-hour trip to reach a rescue command in Southern Nevada.
The new Lakota, a 2010 model, "is designed for domestic use. It's for responding to (situations such as Hurricane) Katrina, forest fires and finding lost hikers and hunters," he said, standing beside the olive-drab, single-rotor chopper at North Las Vegas Airport.
"It's primarily a state of Nevada emergency asset," he said.
This one, emblazoned with a red cross on each side, is one of two the Nevada Guard is breaking in.
The Army also is providing the Nevada National Guard with four utility Lakotas by 2015 for stateside responses to floods, fires and other catastrophic events. For now, the helicopters will be based at Stead.
The Lakotas can fly 167 mph, carry up to 11 people and operate day and night in all types of weather.
The rescue helicopters are equipped with a 250-foot steel cable hoist and can operate at high elevation over mountainous terrain.
Chrisman, who was accompanied on Tuesday's flight by Chief Warrant Officer 5 Bob Bagnato, said the Lakotas will help support rescues in Nye and Lincoln counties and augment missions in Clark County conducted by Las Vegas police helicopters.
A key feature the Lakotas have is forward-looking infra-red thermal imaging that allows the crew to track wildfires at night and find people who are lost in remote areas.
"In a cold environment they will stand out like a light bulb," Chrisman said, of the lost people.
Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.
