STARFlight a helpful fire fighting tool

AUSTIN (KXAN) - STARFlight has become an important part of fighting Central Texas wild fires, not only by helping douse flames from above, but also by assisting firefighters on the ground.

"It's been a very active fire season," said Mark Parcell, chief pilot for STARFlight. "Here this summer we've been out a lot more than normal."

Since January of this year, STARFlight has been dispatched 43 times for wild fires. During that time, they've dropped 600, 140 gallon buckets of water. That's more than the previous four years combined.

During the same time in 2010, STARFlight was only dispatched once for a fire, but didn't even have to make a water drop. In 2009, they were dispatched 11 times, and made 102 drops. In 2008, they were called out 15 times with 167 water drops. And in 2007, 12 times, with 112 water drops.

"It's certainly on a weekly basis, a couple of times a week," Parcell said.

Two STARFlight helicopters sit prepared in their hangar in East Austin, while another responds to medical calls at Brackenridge Hospital.

For more than two hours, two helicopters responded to help fight the fire in Leander on Monday afternoon. There are only two of the usual three member crew on board during the fire mission to help keep as much weight off the chopper as possible. And dropping water from above is not as easy as it looks.

"If you drop too high, the water will just disperse in the air to the point where it just becomes kind of a fog before it hits the ground," Parcell said. "The other part we have to be careful of is getting too close to the flames and actually fanning the flames with the rotor system and then blowing embers and sparks out and causing a worse problem then before."

A difficulty in fighting fires during this severe drought, is being able to find a water source like a pond or river to dip the 140 gallon bucket into.

"And as the drought moves on here. All of those spots have either dried up completely or dried up to the point when you get the bucket in the water it goes into mud," Parcell said.

An alternative is a contraption that STARFlight brings with them called a pumpkin.

It's a big orange bladder that we carry in the aircraft. We get it on scene and then a fire truck will come fill it for us," he said. "So we have our own water source right on the scene."

There is also a mobile fuel tank that can be brought to the scene to help keep the choppers operational longer.

If an emergency medical call is issued during the fire fight, STARFlight will respond.

"The bottom line. We're going to take care of people first. If someone is in trouble, a person is in trouble. We're going to take care of that first," Parcell said.