When a UH-60 Blackhawk comes thundering in, the rotor wash sends anything not tied down either in the air or flying across the ground.
Members of Covington Fire Department with the Blackhawk crew (provided photos)
That was Lesson No. 1 of the day for the Covington Fire Department, and it was apparent the moment the helicopter came thundering in to land last week at Bill Cappel Youth Sports Complex in Latonia. The landing launched garbage cans, dust and debris across the parking lot.
About a dozen members of the Covington Fire Department were on hand for landing zone prep-and-protocol training conducted by the Kentucky Army National Guard – officially Detachment 1, Charlie Co., 2nd Battalion, 238th Aviation MEDEVAC – based in Frankfort.
Covington Fire Chief Mark Pierce said the training was important given the potential for the National Guard to send helicopters to help in the event of a disaster in Covington.
“The National Guard has resources and equipment we could use, whether it’s helping to evacuate injured residents after a tornado or scooping up water and putting out a brush fire that gets out of control in somewhere like Devou Park,” Pierce said. “We have to know how to prepare a landing zone to keep both Guard personnel and people on the ground safe.”
https://www.facebook.com/covingtonkygov/videos/1850020045035150/
In addition to a wide array of in-state missions assigned by Kentucky’s governor, the MEDEVAC detachment has been around the world on behalf of presidents’ orders. It, for example, was deployed to the Middle East in 2013-14 and to the Virgin Islands in 2017 after a couple of hurricanes for search-and-rescue and life-saving missions.
City of Covington
