NAWILIWILI — The Kaua‘i Fire Department, with the help of the county’s Air 1 helicopter, conducted training in the Nawiliwili Harbor area Friday. “The training is part of our ongoing risk management efforts for the department and the community,” said
NAWILIWILI — The Kaua‘i Fire Department, with the help of the county’s Air 1 helicopter, conducted training in the Nawiliwili Harbor area Friday.
“The training is part of our ongoing risk management efforts for the department and the community,” said Kaua‘i Fire Chief Robert Westerman in a release. “We are practicing scenarios which are likely to happen, or already have happened, on Kaua‘i.”
During one of the rotations where rescue personnel switched roles from rescuer to rescued, a phone call came in about a parachutist who was apparently stuck in a tree near the Wailua Golf Course.
“Having the helicopter enables us to do a lot more than if we didn’t have it,” said one of the fire captains at the staging area. “There was an incident in Kalalau where a hiker was literally frozen on the face of a crumbly cliff, not able to go up or down without the surface crumbling. With the helicopter’s aid, we strapped him in and lifted him off. He had a few scrapes and bruises, but he’s alive.”
Westerman said the training took place throughout the week, placing rescue personnel on the cliff above Carters Point at the Nawiliwili Harbor and suspending them down the cliff face with ropes, simulating a hang-glider, or kiter crashing into the cliff face, or a hiker or climber falling and being held by rescue lines.
“We were watching from our room at the Marriott Resort and Beach Club and these people are absolutely amazing,” a couple said, succumbing to curiosity and walking over to the jetty wall area of the harbor which was closed off for the exercises. “They’ve been doing it the whole day and we had to get a better view. They’re very brave.”
Other spectators were at the harbor to watch the departure of the Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Pride of America, getting a sideshow of the exercises while waiting on the ship’s departure.
Westerman said the KFD Rescue crew, along with the helicopter, must work together and rescue the victim while hovering the helicopter in windy conditions and the rescuers being suspended under the helicopter.
“We call this CRM, or crew resource management, by practicing over and over again, in a controlled environment,” Westerman said. “This improves the working relationship between the pilots and crews making it safer for everyone involved during a real incident.”
Westerman said the county is using Air Rescue Systems as a trainer and reviewer to ensure its operations are evaluated and the KFD crews tested by a third party expert.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
