Douglas County renews contract for helicopter that's used to fight wildfires

By Conor McCue

Updated on: June 4, 2023 / 11:58 PM / CBS Colorado

With more than 80% of Douglas County residents living in a potential wildfire zone, according to officials, the spring green-up is a welcome sight, but we all know how quickly things can change.

"What we anticipate is the grass is going to dry out," said Tom Kenny, emergency service unit manager.

Kenny has seen the change countless times in his career. What he hasn't seen much is the aerial tool the county has to fight fires that pop up.

"The primary function of this aircraft is fire suppression. We can drop water with it, search and rescue, we can assist the sheriff's department as an aerial asset," Kenny said. "There's a lot of other parts of the country that have county firefighting resources, Douglas County is unique for Colorado."

Kenny oversees DougCo's firefighting helicopter, a resource the county has contracted for years. He says within 15 minutes it can respond to any part of the county to transport firefighters or drop water from the more than 300-gallon tank.

"By being proactive with the aircraft, it's on-scene rapid, we can go to work very, very quickly if needed," Kenny said.

This year, county commissioners not only renewed the contract, but expanded it by adding crew members and ways to get paid back for helping other agencies.

"Our Douglas County helitack team can go out local communities, both other counties and the U.S. Forest Service land," said county commissioner Abe Laydon. "The nice thing about that is we get reimbursed 100% for those resources."

On average, crews respond to at least seven fires a year, making more than 80 water drops. Because of that, Darren Weekly, who is the sheriff and fire marshal for the county, calls the copter priceless.

"We pay 1.6 million every year, but when you're talking potentially billions of dollars in damage and the potential loss of life, it's a no brainer," Weekly said.

Douglas County has seen its fair share of fires over the years, most notably the destructive Hayman Fire, which burned tens of thousands of acres two decades ago.

The theory with leasing the copter is a quicker response will lead to better outcomes, even as fire risk continually gets worse due to a changing climate.

"For our citizens, making sure they're safe and protected is a top priority," Laydon said.

This year's contract started on June 1 and goes through the end of October, but if the county needs it for some emergency after that, it can access it.

Conor McCue is a general assignment reporter at CBS News Colorado. Read his latest reports or check out his bio and send him an email.

First published on June 3, 2023 / 11:28 AM

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