The California National Guard recently deployed several helicopter crews to rescue more than 200 people who had become surrounded by the state’s raging wildfires while attempting to camp during the Labor Day long weekend.
As ABC News reported, 214 campers became trapped lakeside in the Sierra National Forest when fires engulfed their exit routes, prompting a harrowing rescue that National Guard pilots have labeled the most dangerous of their careers.
On September 5, a CH-47 Chinook helicopter and a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter cut through the intense wildfires to locate the stranded campers.
Their flight certainly wasn’t an easy one, as pilots had to expertly navigate their crafts through the intense smoke and embers that forced them to don night vision goggles.
“We could make out the terrain a whole lot better, even through the smoke, because of the embers that were on the terrain that we wouldn’t normally be able to see,” Chief Warrant Officer 5 Joseph Rosamond, the pilot of the CH-47, told ABC News .
Eventually, the team found the terrified campers huddled together at the lake where they were only about 50-75 feet away from the approaching blaze, dubbed the Creek Fire.
There was no time to waste. The two helicopters began airlifting groups of people out of the area, but soon realized just how many trips it was going to take in order to get all the campers to safety.
“We were quickly running out of time,” Rosamond recalled. “We decided then to pack as many people in as we could. At that point our performance limitations were very, very close to the maximum capabilities of the aircraft, at least for the Chinook.”
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There was also an increased sense of urgency given the injuries of some of those still on the ground.
The Chinook has the capacity to carry about 50 people while the Black Hawk can only carry a dozen. During the rescue mission, which lasted from Saturday night into Sunday morning, both crafts executed three evacuation flights each, successfully airlifting 214 people to safety.
According to ABC News , two individuals refused rescue and stayed behind, though no word has been given yet as to their fate.
Photos of the daring rescue shared by the California National Guard show campers packed tightly together inside the helicopters.
Twelve of those rescued were hospitalized. At least two people sustained serious injuries, with 10 others suffering moderate injuries.
Pilots described that rescue mission as being one of, if not the toughest and most dangerous of their careers.
“The conditions were pretty extreme,” Rosamond said . “There were points along the route where… we were just about ready to say that’s enough.”
But, he added, “[this] was an entire crew, and an entire team decision, to keep on going.”
Since it began burning through the Sierra National Forest six days ago, the Creek Fire has destroyed over 163,000 acres of land and at least 365 structures.
California Gov. Newsom has commended rescue pilots for their bravery, particularly those who airlifted the trapped campers to safety.
“People are remarkable in these moments and selfless in these moments,” he said, as per KPIX 5 . “Again that was exampled other the weekend in these heroic efforts of these two helicopters that landed, rescuing 214 individuals in very difficult circumstances. They very easily, very easily, could have turned around and said the smoke made that mission too dangerous but they went in anyway.”
“They saved many, many lives.”
