Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Sheriff's new helicopter is essential, not excessive

In a move sure to fire up those who gripe about the sheriff's air force, the agency has bought a brand-new bird, this one costing more than $2.4-million.

But before the boo-birds come out of the woods and squawk about this perceived extravagance, they should ask themselves: How extravagant is this purchase when the only thing standing between their home and a raging brush fire is this copter and its 500-gallon bucket of water?

How much is too much to pay to rescue people trapped on land or at sea?

The new copter, an AS350B3, is a powerful workhorse that replaces two of the agency's aging aircraft. One of the two birds being traded in is military surplus dating to the 1960s and in fact had been shot down in Vietnam. Who among us would like to have our lives and homes depend on these antique flying machines?

The copter is expected to arrive in July, in time to join the front lines in what is shaping up to be a busy brush-fire season. Until then, the Sheriff's Office has one copter on backup, and the Division of Forestry has a fire-fighting helicopter on standby in Ocala.

When the new bird flies in, it will instantly double the agency's ability to fight fires from above. The copter can haul a 500-gallon water bucket, more than twice the current 210-gallon capacity available. This will be immeasurably valuable in the critical moments when a brush fire threatens to outrun the best efforts of the crews on the ground.

In recent years, Citrus County has had to contend with hurricanes and flooding rivers, but today we face the opposite threat of brush fires. Already, parts of the state are facing these fast-moving conflagrations that can sprint through bone-dry forests and neighborhoods in a flash.

Back in 2000, dozens of brush fires large and small erupted around Citrus County. Many of them threatened homes and businesses and required heroic efforts by the county's first responders.

Capt. Mike Richie, who oversees the aviation division, recalls flying eight hours a day for weeks at a time dumping huge buckets of water on brush fires. On many occasions, he doused the homes of people trying to wet down their houses with garden hoses. He remembers the heartfelt gratitude these homeowners expressed to the flying firefighters.

The new craft also comes with a hoist that can be used to rescue people trapped in the woods or on sinking boats. The Coast Guard now handles those sea rescues, but the copters from that agency must cover an area from St. Petersburg to the Panhandle. Anyone who watched copters pull desperate people from flooded homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina blew through grasps the value of these tools.

The price of the new helicopter does give pause, but it must be considered in full context. First, the agency is trading in two copters, which drops the price by $518,000. The remaining amount, after a $117,085 down payment, will be financed through a $1.8-million loan. The 10-year debt service, Sheriff Jeff Dawsy explained, will be incorporated within the agency's budget, which is $24-million this year, and will not require any additional county funds.

Copters are expensive machines. Consider that the White House has authorized a new fleet of helicopters to serve the president as Marine One. Each of the new choppers will cost $110-million, with a total price of $6.1-billion. And these copters don't even come with a hoist or a fire-fighting bucket.

Critics of the agency may well howl about the new copter, and it is fair to say that Dawsy has never met a new tool or gadget that he didn't like. But the new copter, with all of its technological advances and superior mechanical attributes, will move Citrus County into the modern era of aviation and will serve the public here and in neighboring counties for many years to come.

[Last modified May 9, 2006, 07:43:00]