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San Diego may spend $34M on firefighting chopper, storage hangar

A Sikorsky firefighting chopper
(DICK KETTLEWELL / AP)
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Seeking to boost suppression of wildfires, San Diego plans to spend $34 million on a cutting-edge firefighting helicopter and a new hangar at Montgomery-Gibbs Field to house the new chopper and two older models the city operates.

The new helicopter, which would cost $20 million, is capable of dropping nearly three times the water of the city’s current choppers — 1,000 gallons versus 375 gallons.

Having three choppers instead of two would also ensure the city has at least two available at all times, said Fire-Rescue Chief Brian Fennessy, explaining that the choppers are frequently out of service for maintenance and repairs.

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The hangar, which would cost $13.7 million, would reduce rust and corrosion on the choppers and allow maintenance to be conducted indoors. The city now stores its firefighting choppers outdoors at Montgomery-Gibbs.

Both proposals are expected to be presented to the City Council for approval in coming weeks. Fennessy said no additional personnel or overtime would be required for the new chopper or the new hangar.

The city’s independent budget analyst, Andrea Tevlin, has raised questions about the proposed hangar, contending city officials should consider using the money instead to build one of 10 new fire stations the city needs to fill coverage gaps.

Tevlin noted that two reports in 2010 and 2016 by an outside consultant didn’t include a helicopter hangar among the list of the city’s most urgent firefighting facility needs.

Fennessy said those reports were focused on fire stations and geographic coverage gaps, so it made sense that the hangar wasn’t included. He said it would be short-sighted not to store a $20 million helicopter indoors.

“If we don’t get these aircraft inside, we are going to continue to lose on our investments,” he told the City Council’s Budget & Government Efficiency Committee recently.

He also said accommodations for the three-man crews that operate the choppers are subpar at Montgomery-Gibbs without the proposed hangar.

The new helicopter, which is called a “firehawk,” is a military-grade chopper that was first modified for the Los Angeles Fire Department, which owns three of them and is planning to buy two more, Fennessy said.

In addition to dumping water on wildfires, it can conduct hoist‐air rescues, shoreline rescues, swift‐water rescues, night vision goggle operations, patient transports, vehicle rescues, large animal rescues and infrared detection.

The new chopper can also help with disaster assessment and high‐rise fire incidents.

It is manufactured by the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, a division of Lockheed Martin. The city’s existing firefighting helicopters are made by Bell.

The first chopper was manufactured in 1980 and bought by the city in 2005, just over a year after the notorious 2003 Cedar Fire made clear the region lacked adequate resources to fight wildfires.

The second helicopter was bought new in 2008, shortly after the 2007 Witch Fire. Fennessy said it’s more effective and reliable and gets much more use by firefighters than the 1980 model, but noted it has the same water capacity — 375 gallons.

He said that doesn’t seem adequate based on climate change making wildfires more common and more severe.

“They are spreading faster and getting larger,” Fennessy said. “The need for aircraft to carry more water — for more water drop capacity — has become critical.”

A consultant earlier this year recommended San Diego buy two Sikorsky helicopters, but Fennessy said the city can afford one. He suggested the city may buy a second Sikorsky chopper in 2022 or 2023.

The city will pay $9.8 million of the chopper’s $20 million purchase price up front and finance the balance.

While the county also has firefighting helicopters, they only operate during daylight hours. The city of San Diego handles all night firefighting chopper responses for the entire county.

Money for the hangar would come from revenue the city receives from a 1998 national settlement with tobacco companies, which the city sold bonds against in 2006.

The hangar would be large enough to house up to six firefighting helicopters, but Fennessy said he can’t imagine the city would need more than three any time soon.

City Councilman Scott Sherman said he supports both upgrades to the city’s firefighting equipment and facilities.

“We need to be prepared,” he said. “Our job, first and foremost, is public safety.”

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick

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