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Two New Blackhawk Helicopters Arrive For L.A. County Use During Peak Fire Season

Two new Sikorsky S70i Blackhawk helicopters arrived at the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Heliport Tuesday, and are set to be put into service for the peak of fire season, officials said.

Back in 2017, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved nearly $30 million to purchase the two new Blackhawk multi-mission helicopters.

“The two new Firehawk helicopters arrived at our Barton Heliport in Pacoima (Tuesday) evening,” said Board of Supervisors Fire Deputy Elisa Arcidiacono. “We will be spending the next few days acclimating our pilots and mechanics to the new Firehawks before we place them into service.”

Since 2018 when the helicopters were purchased, they have been in Colorado being modified to be able to perform all the different missions these helicopters are tasked to handle, according to officials.

 

The two new helicopters, copter 21 and 22, are joining the existing fleet of helicopters the County flies.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department now has a total of 10 helicopters, five Sikorsky Blackhawk helicopters equipped with a hoist, advanced medical equipment and a 1,000-gallon water tank which could be filled by drafting water from bodies of water such as lakes, reservoirs or ponds by use of a snorkel.

The other five airships, the Bell 412 helicopters are also equipped with a hoist and advanced medical equipment with a 360-gallon water tank which is filled by a fire engine designated to the Helispot during a brush fire.

The fleet of helicopters are constantly being maintained and standing by waiting to assist in transporting patients to the hospital, conducting hoist operations and assisting in fighting brush fires from the sky.

Come September, the air fleet is expected to be joined by two fix-winged super scoopers that are contracted from Quebec Canada on a 90-day lease, however, can be extended if brush fires continue to be a high threat during December.

Each super scooper is equipped with a water tank capable of holding 1,600 gallons of water, and work in tandem with each other and the County helicopters to drop water on brush fires throughout Santa Clarita and across the southland.

In 2017, the Board of Supervisors discussed purchasing a super scooper but determined the cost was too much, and more practical to purchase two new Firehawks especially after losing a firefighting bird to a crash in 2015, according to officials.


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Two New Blackhawk Helicopters Arrive For L.A. County Use During Peak Fire Season

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About Louie Diaz

Louie was born and raised in Santa Clarita. At the age of two Louie lost his vision due to a brain tumor. However, Louie doesn't let blindness stop him from doing what ever it is he wants to accomplish. Growing up some of his favorite hobbies were wood working, fishing and riding bikes. Louie graduated from College of the Canyon in December of 2017, with a Broadcast Journalism degree. Growing up Louie has always wanted to be a fire fighter or a police officer, but because of his blindness Louie knew that wouldn't work. Louie has always loved listening to police and fire radio traffic, using a scanner, and he figured if he was going to listen to the scanner so much, he should do something with it.