NVG demonstration

This is a demonstration of our Night Vision Goggle system. We can do all the same stuff at night (Hoist rescues, water drop firefighting, longline operations, etc) that we do during the day, the one exception being the hover fill with the snorkel (too many little droplets and the pilot can't keep a good reference) so we just do a ground fill operation instead.

As far as I know Los Angeles is the only other place in the whole country that will do night firefighting. The wildland/urban interface nature of the areas make the risks with it.

Our copter made the cover of TIME magazine 'year in review'. It was taken while we were saving a part of Rancho Penasquitos. This picture has nothing to do with the Witch fire but I used it because I like it better. We hoisted a firefighter off the ridge with a broken leg just before the ridge burned up, then landed to transfer him to an ambulance (normally we'd just do the hoist rescue and fly right to the hospital, but we were kinda busy) The best thing about this picture is, I look like a yeti following the ground crew while they do all the lifting.