It's So Hot In The West That Medical Helicopters Are Having To Cancel Runs - It's Too Hot To Fly

STANFORD, Calif. — The call came at 2 p.m. Sunday: A driver suffered a brain injury in a traffic accident and needed to be flown to a different hospital as soon as possible. Lead helicopter pilot Douglas Evans noted the 116.6-degree temperature in Redding, Calif., where he would need to land. The tarmac was probably even hotter. In 27 years of operating medical helicopters around California, Evans had never had to cancel a flight because of excessive heat — until now.

Evans and other emergency responder pilots are used to factoring California’s wind, fog and fire smoke into their flight decisions. But extreme heat, like the intense wave blanketing the West right now, is affecting the way rescue helicopters can carry out their missions. High temperatures, which are increasing due to human-caused climate change, are altering operations in broad swaths of the state. REACH Air Medical Services, which operates 30 helicopter bases across California, declined at least two rescue calls over the weekend because of excessive heat, said Vicky Spediacci, the company’s chief operating officer. “This is pretty rare. There can be pockets but this was more widespread,” she said.

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The heat is hampering efforts to transport patients and conduct rescues in the region’s national parks, places that can rely on choppers amid the vast wilderness. When hikers get lost or become stranded on remote trails, helicopters are sometimes sent to locate and pull them out. National parks including Joshua Tree and Death Valley warn visitors that a helicopter may not be able to reach ambitious hikers in the heat, park rangers said. When temperatures pass 122 degrees — which has already happened this year in parts of California including Death Valley — medical helicopters often cannot fly.

A helicopter was unable to fly to a rescue in Death Valley this weekend because of the heat, officials said. Six motorcyclists were traveling together through the park. One person died of heat exposure, another was “treated for severe heat illness” and transported to a hospital, and four were treated on-site and released, officials said. “Due to the high temperatures, emergency medical flight helicopters were unable to respond, as they generally cannot fly safely over 120 degrees,” a news release said, noting that it was 128 degrees that day.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/07/10/excessive-heat-helicopter-emergency/