ODF sends helicopter to assist in Crater Lake fire

Crater Lake National Park, Ore. — Local crews are assisting with the Bybee Creek fire fight. The Oregon Department of Forestry has sent one of it’s helicopters to aid in water drops on the flames.

Forest Service planes have been seen filling up at Lost Creek Lake where the length of the lake allows for a scooper to have enough room to dip down and get out. But ODF’s choppers are usually able to re-fill even closer to the fight.

“They basically come in from a very vertical approach, drop in, pick up and carry on,” Melissa Cano, Public Information Officer for ODF says, “versus the scoopers need that distance, the ‘water runway’.”

Because Crater Lake is a National Park and under federal rules and regulations, planes are not able to refill on site. If ODF needs their helicopter locally it can usually respond in a matter of minutes.