 The intent of this portion of the module for helicopter operations safety is to improve our safety with working with helicopters. And the way we're going to do that, the way we're going to improve safety is by limiting exposure. And how we limit exposure is by improving the efficiency of working with helicopters. And how do you improve efficiency is through better communications, both through verbal and visual, and giving good, honest feedback with the pilot. The whole communications process is for them to communicate to me what they want, because I don't want to haul a bucket of water maybe five miles and not put it where they want it. Working with helicopters, you're exposed to many hazards as a firefighter, some you can control and some you can't. And the ones that you can control can be mitigated or dramatically reduced by practicing good situational awareness and proactive communications. The firefighter when working with helicopters is asking the helicopter to perform in a place of its performance where it's slow speed and low altitude, which doesn't allow it the ability to recover in the event of a loss of power. So the least amount of time you want to ask the pilot to be in that what we call the dead man's curve, the less exposure that pilot has, and then the less time you're underneath it at any point in time if something happens, it can come down directly upon you. So you want to just go ahead and make that mission as brief and efficient as possible. Whether you're calling in the drop or whether you're just a firefighter standing by, it's real important to consider your location in relation to what's above you. If the helicopter's coming in for a drop, you need to realize the rotor wash itself or the drop from the bucket or the water can dislodge debris and throw it upon you. Medium and heavy hollow tankers can drop anywhere from 300 to 2,000 gallons at once and that's a great deal of weight. A gallon of water is 8.3 pounds times 2,000. You do the math. That's a lot of weight coming down at once. So you really need to be taking consideration where you're at and consider your escape route to move out of the area clearly. Before you launch, you definitely need to take into consideration is the right tool for the objective that you're hoping to achieve on the fire. What is your tactical objective? Communicating your tactical objectives when you place an order is really important if you're on a large fire to communicate that to the air attack or if it's an initial attack situation to communicate that to the manager of the crew coming in. How are you going to use that helicopter? And then also have a backup plan. If it comes in and gets a chip light or another priority comes up that you have some other way of meeting your tactical objective, not relying on the aviation resource. Some firefighters out there do try and explain their tactical objective to the pilots. And some firefighters just make an assumption that the pilot's been here. He's done that. He knows what they want done. And they're making the assumption the manager is going to do that with the pilot. But really the ownership is placed on the IC to explain exactly what it is that you're trying to do on the fire. If it's a smaller fire, sometimes you can anticipate, you know, we may only need you for a few buckets and then we'll release you. It's just another tool. It's like a, you know, a Pulaski or a shovel or chainsaw that you're using on the fire. It's a way to put the fire out. And when you're done with it, you need to just put it down. As the pilot's coming in, if he doesn't know your location, you definitely want to consider the aircraft as a clock, you know, with the nose being 12 and the tail of it being six and out the right door to the side will be three and then out the left will be nine. And as they're coming in, you explain your position in relation to them. You know, I'm at your 12 o'clock low or I'm at your, you know, one o'clock high. Whatever it is, it's coming in low or high. Go ahead. Yeah, at the time I'm going to use you for a spot drop, I'm at your one o'clock right now. 12 o'clock low. I got a panel set up. I have your panel. You got a spot drop on this panel, that'd be great. You spot on the panel. Once they have you in position, then you can explain, you know, your position in relation to the parts of the fire, whether it be the heel or the left flank or right flank or the head of the fire. And I would ask people to refrain from using the cardinal directions, such as north, south, east or west. Cardinal directions are really tough because especially if I'm hanging out the window and I'm turning around, I'm looking for you. I'm not paying very much attention to which direction is south, which direction is west. Think about what it is you're going to say before you push the button on a radio. And that goes with any fire communications. Don't just key the radio and start thinking. Think about what you're going to say first. Think about phrasing it in the shortest possible means and then key the radio and say what it is you're going to say. And when you're done, you know, let other people talk. Consider what it is that the pilot is doing inside the aircraft when he's bringing a long line load to you or a bucket drop to you because he's manipulating the aircraft in its highest performance curve. He's operating it at low altitude and at slow forward airspeed and he's having to avoid all the hazards. And he's very busy looking out the window trying to keep you safe and trying to keep the load safe. So if you call him and he doesn't answer, he's busy. So just realize he'll be getting back to you and not be impatient when you're talking to him. Feedback is real important to the pilot. Good shot. Six five. Go ahead. You need to communicate, you know, was the drop accurate? Was it too early? Was it late? And given that honest feedback directly to the pilot and they can also communicate to you your directions, you know, maybe your directions weren't very efficient or, you know, lack some clarity and, you know, clearing up that communication will make the second or third drop more efficient and reduce the exposure time. When you've ordered an aircraft to support you on a fire, you want to designate a competent firefighter that understands how to communicate clearly and concisely and briefly to the pilot. And you want to make sure that if you're expecting an aircraft that you're monitoring that frequency and you're not scanning other channels that can override the priority of the traffic coming through so that there's very little hang time in the air for the pilot to train and get a hold of people. The consequences of a pilot not being able to contact, to ground contact, is the forces of the pilots to burn circles in the air in trying to make contact with the ground person. And if they just can't, they're not going to start doing any work on that fire until they can. It's a waste of time. It's inefficient and flight time is expensive. And it's just putting everybody at a greater risk. The worst situation is when I get all the way over there, I still haven't got a hold of anybody and I'm just flying around with a bucket of low to water. And they're not hermetically sealed. I mean, there's water leaking out and you're flying around burning up flight time. It is important to understand that the resource that you're working with, the helicopter and crew that's coming in may not be from your area and don't make any assumptions that they know the local landmarks or the local vegetation types or the local fire behavior and how it will be affected by the vegetation that's burning into and try and keep that in mind as you're asking specifics of the pilot. It's entirely appropriate to ask the pilot, how is it you want me to call in the drop? Do you want me to show you a panel and put it exactly on the drop where I want it? What is the best way for us to communicate and then work this out? The pilots coming in before they've ever landed are set up for the bucket work. You say, I'm at the heel of the fire. Do you understand where that's at? Do you have the heel of the fire? And they'll say, yeah. And then do you have the head of the fire and the larger fires? It'll be pretty obvious, you know, where the area of the most intense heat is. You say, all right, do you understand the left flank, right flank? This is how we got it going, set up. And then once you have that common ground established, that's the best part. The perspective from the air is much different than the perspective of the ground. And don't assume that the pilot knows exactly what you're seeing. Topography looks different. Fire size looks different. People are hard to see and hard to locate. So really taking into consideration and what it is you're explaining for the drop or the mission. As a ground firefighter, when you're working on a slope, such as a 30% slope, to you it might appear moderately steep. And a lot of times the directions are given as I want the next drop directly upslope of that. From a pilot's perspective, the topography isn't as obvious. From his angle of flight, the 30% slope might look totally different to him and it might appear more flat and it's more difficult for him to understand what upslope and downslope is. So it's helpful to be a little bit more specific on how it is you want the drop. Okay, I can't tell where the ridge is. Up the ridge, from here, what direction is that? To the north, okay. I need a visual on the ground where's north. It is important to identify yourself if you're calling in the drop to the pilot so they can understand the perspective from what you want, from what they're seeing and a way to do that is if you feel comfortable and you're not concerned with the overhead hazards, you can take off your hard hat and wave it, see if they see you or if you have a piece of high visibility orange paneling, you can wave that, they tend to see that pretty clearly. And if not, you can take a bunch of pieces of orange or pink flagging, tie it on the end of a tool and wave your tool back and forth until they establish that they have seen you. Mirror flashes are wonderful. Okay, good mirror flash, I have you in sight. Just make sure you communicate to the crew. Only you are gonna identify yourself and not everybody. If you are choosing to use a trainee, make sure you have a confident person with them, initially establishing communications and then maybe allow the trainee to have some opportunities as the drop is being called in a little bit later. The way we're gonna improve safety is by limiting exposure. And how we limit exposure is by improving the efficiency of working with helicopters and how do you improve efficiency is through better communications, both through verbal and visual, and giving good honest feedback with a pilot.