KINGSBURY, Ind. — Members of the Indiana Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team, comprised of helicopter crews and pilots from the Indiana Army National Guard and search and rescue technicians from the South Bend Fire Department, performed helicopter hoist operations at Kingsbury Reserve Training Area near LaPorte, Indiana, July 22-23.
The rescue training involved lowering and recovering personnel from a UH-60 Black Hawk hovering about 100 feet off the ground, which prepared the team for additional training and certification scheduled for August in South Carolina.
The new HART program, which will be the first in the Midwest, is a partnership between the Indiana National Guard and the South Bend Fire Department. After several years of discussion and anticipation, the program is scheduled to attend training and FEMA certification in South Carolina in August.
Hoist operations, arguably the most difficult task for the crew, entails lowering a person from a helicopter to a point on the ground, overcoming turbulence, terrain, and a host of other variables.
“The pilots can’t see what we’re doing, so we have to articulate it. We describe (it) as (if) painting a picture for them, so they understand what’s going on. It’s sometimes difficult to do and speak it and take in all the information you need because you’re watching where the aircraft is, you’re watching what obstacles you have, (and) you’re watching the person on the hoist. When you are the operator of the hoist, you are (the) eyes and ears of what’s going on and you have to relay that to the pilots so they know and can act accordingly,” said Sgt. Todd D. Overbeck. “Everybody has to function as a team.”
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Joshua Wiedeman, the command pilot and project lead for HART with the Indiana Army National Guard, was exposed to the concept of helicopter search and rescue while flying as a medevac pilot during his deployment to Kosovo in 2016.
“It was a neat concept and it planted the seed when I came back to Indiana after the deployment,” he said. The idea was attempted prior to his involvement but the initiative had stalled. With permission to reinvigorate the program, Weideman contacted Chris Baker, a battalion chief with the South Bend, Indiana, Fire Department.
Hurricane Florence provided additional motivation for the establishment. The experience emphasized the importance of having a trained team that specializes in helicopter search and rescue.
“We wanted to start out with a small group to see how things would work and it made sense financially and practically. Everybody that’s on the civilian-rescuer side is certified as swift-water rescue technicians. They are also rope rescue technicians and the majority of us are advanced EMTs or paramedics,” said Baker.
The Indiana National Guard contributed a small group of three pilots, three hoist operators and two medics to the team. The South Bend Fire Department’s portion of the team consists of six firefighters with the eight Soldiers.
“I think this is a mission worth being passionate about,” Weideman said. “I believe that performing these types of missions and being part of these mission sets is part of the reason people join the Army National Guard. When I look at the individuals we have on this team and their passion for this mission set, I think it’s undeniable. The people we took to Hurricane Florence came back and said ‘this is what I enlisted for, this is what I’ve been looking for.'”
Overbeck, a Hurricane Florence volunteer and HART hoist operator, recently decided to reenlist in no small part due to the HART mission. “I am just now in the process of signing a reenlistment contract and the HART was 95% of my decision to stay versus getting out,” said Overbeck.
For Overbeck, the mission makes it worth the challenges that being a Guard member presents; balancing Guard life versus civilian life. He said it was one of those things that makes all this worthwhile.
“I think this is something that’s awesome for our unit and the South Bend guys," said Overbeck.
“We got invited to train with South Carolina, North Carolina and Texas,” said Baker. “Those organizations are the pioneers of HART, with Texas being involved for the past 18 years and North and South Carolina (coming) on board slightly after that. They have a lot of years of experience doing this stuff.”
The South Carolina training goal is to certify or “type” according to FEMA standards. There are four types; Type 1 is most advanced and has the most resources. Type 4 is usually small teams of about six people with a capacity to do some boat rescues, mainly calm water. Type 3 certification adds moving water to the Type 4 capability. Type 2 and Type 1 consists of 16- member teams with capabilities to operate day or night in flood or swift water. The FEMA typing system ensures the proper assets are assigned appropriate missions according to their capabilities.
“We are excited for the State of Indiana to get this team stood up,” said Baker. “They experience significant floods in the southern part of the state where resources are not as readily available. This will be able to put us down in an area to cover more ground and be a force multiplier.”