Rapid Attack/Rappel attack aka rapattack

I have a good friend from Canada, a former tanker pilot, who sends me all sorts of wonderful stuff. A few days ago he sent me a link to the July/August 2012 edition of Canadian Skies Magazine. When I went to their website today, the digital edition of the July/August 2012 edition was freely available. One of the articles that my friend pointed me to was on pages 51-2. The article in question is called "Controlled Decsent, it is about British Columbia's help rappel program called rapattack. Since I am not certain how long the link to the July/August 2012 digital edition will be freely available, I am going to summarize some pertinent information about British Columbia's Rapattack program. Edited on May 16, 2016 to note that the digital edition of the July/August 2012 edition of Canadian Skies Magazine is no longer available.

The rapattack program is short for rapid attack and rappel attack. Started in 1977, it was the first program in Canada where wildland firefighters are inserted in remote and inaccessible areas by rappelling down 300 foot ropes from helicopters. In 2012, the helicopter fleet includes one Bell 412SP, one Bell 212HO, and one Bell 212. The helos have a 370 belly tank.

Initial attack rapattack crews work in teams of three. In addition to the pilot, a helicopter operations tech is on the helicopter when the rapattack crew is deployed to a fire. Two 175-pound canvas bags are filled with fire fighting tools including chain saws, pulaskies, shovels, axes, a hose, and a 300-gallon collapsible water tank. And of course, fuel and oil for the equipment. The crew travels with sleeping gear and food for a 24 to 48 hour period.

The two videos that I embedded here show a rapattack helicopter taking off (love the sound of the engines) and a demonstration of rappelling. The two videos that I had previously embedded here are no longer available (May 16, 2016).