Heroic efforts of Fort Carson MedEvac company save lives in Colorado floods

Heroic efforts of Fort Carson MedEvac company save lives in Colorado floods
Army
By Valecia L. Dunbar, D.M., Army Medicine Public Affairs
September 24, 2013

FORT CARSON, Colo. (Sept. 24, 2013) -- Three Army Medicine MedEvac crews from Fort Carson deployed to flood areas this week to assist in evacuation and rescue efforts.

They joined members of the Colorado and Wyoming National Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other local emergency response teams in support of flood evacuation operations.

According to Lance Blyth, U.S. Northern Command historian, the military response to the Colorado floods, dubbed "Operation Centennial Raging Waters," is likely to be the biggest rotary-wing airlift mission since Hurricane Katrina.

Operating out of Boulder Municipal airport, the MedEvac crews equipped with three Black Hawk and four Chinook helicopters flew upwards of 9.5 hours each on a single Saturday evacuation event before running out of daylight, and crew endurance. From Friday evening through Tuesday, flight crews completed several rounds of non-stop evacuations and 2nd Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, rescued/evacuated 1028 civilians and flew over 150 total flight hours.

Charlie Company Archangels flew over 75 flight hours and conducted 43 hoist missions, most of which included five or more lifts per mission in order to clear evacuation sites of all personnel, pets, and baggage. A total of 3,054 people were evacuated by military personnel as of mid September.

At the time, authorities were reporting more than 1,000 individuals were still unaccounted for, which increased concern that flight crews would start seeing patients by the time the mission was complete.
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