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A Catholic college in Southern California has installed a new helipad on campus to aid in quenching wildfires. The convenient location will allow helicopters to refill with water faster, which could help stop wildfires before they go out of control.
According to Catholic News Agency, St. Thomas Aquinas College, near Santa Paula, had its own encounter with a wildfire four years ago. The 2017 “Thomas Fire,” so named for the school, began less than a mile from the college and spread at a rate of an acre per second. After watching 300,000 acres of surrounding landscape go up in smoke, the Catholic college decided it needed to help prevent further loss.
Vice President of St. Thomas Aquinas College, Mark Kretschmer, explained in a statement:
St. Thomas Aquinas College reports that they have installed a water line at the helipad that is connected to a storage tank of 60,000 gallons. It will be an easy spot for Ventura County Firehawks (military grade Blackhawk helicopters repurposed for firefighting) to refill with water.
The county has two Firehawks, each equipped with a 1,000-gallon tank. The new helipad could allow the vehicles to refill 30 times before they will be forced to fly to the town of Fillmore, about 20 miles away. The distance is not far for a helicopter, but in the face of a quickly spreading wildfire every moment counts, Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen explained:
The report also notes that the situation of the helipad will also facilitate ambulances, without disturbing the college. The helipad connects to the nearby service road to highway 150, which will allow faster transportation from the helipad to the local hospital.
