Fire creates buzz at airport
Megan Strickland
Firefighting gear sits ready to go in front of a helicopter at the St. Ignatius airport.
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ST. IGNATIUS — A usually quiet airstrip tucked between the outskirts of St. Ignatius and the base of the Mission Mountains became an invaluable buzzing command center for firefighters working on the Firestone Flats fire last week.
“It’s just not something you usually see,” Mike Keifer of St. Ignatius said about the barrage of aircraft that flooded into the airport.
But the St. Ignatius airport, like many small airports in the western United States, makes a tremendous difference in fire season.
“They can be lifesaving,” said Lori Osterstock, helibase manager for the fire.
At one point, five helicopters used the St. Ignatius airport to land during the Firestone Flats fire. The helicopters were coordinated by availability through a national database, Osterstock said. They are staffed by qualified firefighters also coordinated by a national database, and invited by local fire agencies.
Once the aircraft arrived, pilots set to work lifting 100-gallon water buckets to help smother the flames. Helicopters dropping water usually only have a single crewmember, while other missions might have as many as eight team members involved.
Dropping water, although very important to firefighting efforts, is actually secondary in importance to other functions the helicopters can perform.
“We can get recognizance from the air,” Osterstock said. “We can also drop supplies or lift injured people if we have to.”
The Firestone Flats fire was a very typical fire, and interagency officials worked well together to contain it, Osterstock said. Helicopters at the St. Ignatius airport were also able to aid local fire departments and save a man’s farm when his combine caught his field on fire.
By the weekend, the helicopters had left the airport, moving on to fight the next fire — and the St. Ignatius airport was quiet once again.
