SANDSTON, Va. –
A Virginia National Guard helicopter crew flying a Black Hawk helicopter equipped with a 600-gallon water bucket helped Henrico County firefighters contain a blaze Sept. 8 at The East End landfill.
“The Virginia Guard helicopter was a tremendous benefit to assisting with the process of containing and extinguishing the landfill fire,” said Capt. Chris Buehren of the Henrico County Division of Fire. The fire was in a hilltop approximately 265 feet high, and the fire intensity was driving away the heavy machinery being used to push dirt on the fire to get it under control, he said.
“Attacking the fire from above with the water drops cooled the fire enough for the bulldozers to make headway with the smothering process,” Beuhren said. “Because the fire was so elevated, it required a tremendous amount of assets to place any type of substantial water from hose lines on the fire. The environment they would be working in and around would be treacherous, so the water drops above the fire was a huge benefit for safety reasons.”
The crew of four Soldiers from the Sandston-based 2nd Battalion, 224th Aviation Regiment flew nearly six hours and dropped a totally of 30,000 gallons of water on the fire.
"The Henrico landfill fire presented a good opportunity for Virginia Army National Guard UH-60L helicopter crews to practice water bucket operations," said Lt. Col. James Ring, state aviation officer for the Virginia Guard.