News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The vehicles collided at 5:05 p.m. as twilight settled over Highway 126 east of Sisters. The truck and the car hit head-on; the car's driver was killed, the truck's driver seriously hurt.
Sisters firefighters cut the truck's driver out of the cab, stabilized him and put him aboard an AirLife helicopter, which landed in a field at the junction of Highway 126 and Camp Polk Road at 5:30 p.m.
Three minutes later, AirLife lifted off, transporting the injured man to St. Charles Medical Center, where he underwent surgery for facial injuries and was released.
In emergencies such as that February 16 crash, time is a life-and-death factor; minutes count. In that accident, there was not a moment wasted.
According to Cloverdale Rural Fire Protection District Chief Chuck Cable, the efficiency of that operation was helped by a system of predesignated landing zones established for AirLife in the area east of Sisters.
There are 14 designated "LZs" on the Cloverdale Rural Fire Protection District. Each one has its nautical coordinates pre-programmed into the AirLife helicopter's flight computer. Each LZ has also been inventoried for potential hazards such as power lines, trees, or problem winds.
When AirLife is called out to Cloverdale, Cable designates which LZ is closest to the emergency, and the helicopter flies straight to it, with the pilot knowing just what he can expect to find there.
Without designated landing sites, AirLife must follow roadways and take direction from emergency crews on the ground, procedures that can cost time when there is none to spare.
And in the dark in remote areas of the district, leaving pilots to feel their way along the ground could cause fatal delays.
The predesignated, pre-programmed LZs let AirLife to sprint directly in, scoop up a patient and get away quickly.
"In the district where we don't have an artery even close (to an emergency) it's basically essential," Cable said.
In the February 16 wreck, Cable activated AirLife and directed them to LZ "C-13."
Instead of flying up Highway 20 and cutting across over Cloverdale Road to the accident scene, Cable said, "they flew right from the hospital straight to that coordinate. It coordinated just right so there was no on-site time wasted."
Cable developed the predesignated LZ program in LaPine eight years ago, where it proved effective in the remote areas of that district. He established the program in Cloverdale when he moved there in 1994.
The driver of the truck in the February 16 wreck, 22-year-old Michael Hocker, was treated for some serious facial injuries and released that night. His injuries proved less life-threatening than they had appeared to fire department and AirLife paramedics.
But at the time, it looked like the clock was ticking. And when minutes are crucial, a straight line and a familiar landing zone could mean the difference between life and death.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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