PULLMAN – For the first time the State of Washington has deployed a wildland firefighting helicopter station on the Palouse.
The Huey is stationed at the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport to provide a quicker aerial attack on local wildfires. The deployment is the result of successful legislation from local Washington State Representative Mary Dye. The new law allows volunteer fire districts to call the Washington Department of Natural Resources for initial aerial attack on wildfires.
The Pullman chopper was deployed this month and was already utilized on the Nisqually John Fire in the Snake River Canyon in Whitman County Fire District 14 out of Colton-Uniontown.
The helo can also be utilized across the border by the Idaho Department of Lands.
There are about a half a dozen DNR personnel deployed at the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport with the chopper. They are staying in local hotels and in a trailer at the airport for their summer deployment. This stationing of a DNR wildland firefighting helicopter on the Palouse will continue permanently every summer.
