Kern County Fire Department - New Helicopter 407 - 408 will finish 10-year maintenance soon

KEENE, California -- Kern County Fire Departments second helicopter, Helicopter 407, was revamped and delivered by San Joaquin Helicopters from Delano just a week ago.

The crew said the new addition brings Kern County up to speed with other California counties.

Helicopter 408 Captain Kevin Loomis said, "These aircraft have brought Kern County up to speed if you will, with the Southern California fire fighting departments that are down there. Top of the line, great stuff, now we are right there with the big boys, doing the same thing.”

The Kern County Fire Department definitely missed its helicopter, but now that its back, it’s the residents of Kern County who will benefit.

Loomis said, "This aircraft does rescue, it does firefighting, troop transfer, night-vision goggle rescue, so it’s very, very important to the county, especially with 8,000 square miles to cover. We missed it a lot, we missed a lot of calls.”

And soon, Kern County Fire won’t just have one helicopter to serve the county, but two.
In the next couple weeks, Helicopter 408 will finish its 10-year maintenance, during which the helicopter is taken apart and inspected.

Kern County Fire Department Director of Maintainence Jim Fritts said, "You have to remove every component of the aircraft, the tail boom, the landing gear, and then you have to repair or replace whatever components that are due.”

Kern County Fire just formed their its maintenance program in an effort to save money.
The program is responsible for Helicopter 408's 10-year maintenance check.
Loomis said having its own maintenance to the helicopters not only saves money, but allows the aircrafts to be inspected daily.

Both Helicopter 407 and 408 are identical except in color, each is equipped with a water tank, enough room to transport 10 firefighters, a hoist and the capabilities to do both day and night rescues.

Kern County Fire said eventually Helicopter 407 will be stationed in Mettler at Station 55, and Helicopter 408 will be kept in Keene.
But as for now, the crews are just excited to have their aircraft back.

Article source: turnto23.com - Link
Photo source: Laguna Hot Shots Blog - Link