Sonoma County helicopter pilot honored for daring rescue

A daring nighttime rescue of nine emergency responders stranded by high tide on ocean cliffs in Del Norte County earned Sonoma County sheriff’s helicopter pilot Paul Bradley recognition as AAA’s Rescuer of the Year on Wednesday.

The automotive club gave $10,000 to the nonprofit group Friends of Henry 1, named after the Sheriff’s Office’s Bell 407 aircraft and formed to help raise funds to support the program. The money will be the first installment in a capital campaign to raise $1 million to eventually replace the about 20-year-old helicopter.

AAA spokesman Bob Brown said his organization chose to honor Bradley because the helicopter team did not hesitate to launch the mission last year, even though it took them about 250 miles out of their region and was a technically challenging nighttime effort.

“We want to honor the rescuers who do this for a living, not for accolades or notoriety,” said Brown, with the club’s Northern California, Nevada and Utah chapter.

The May 24, 2013, incident has had a lasting impact on the paramedics, firefighters and sheriff’s deputy who responded to help an injured woman on Enderts Beach south of Crescent City in what became a much more complicated ordeal that left the rescuers marooned and soaked by ocean waves during high tide on a dangerous rock outcropping as darkness fell.

Crescent City Volunteer Fire Department Capt. Dana Reno, reached by phone, said the event “still gets brought up to this day in conversations” and was central to a recent wedding of a Del Norte County sheriff’s deputy and a paramedic who met while stranded and awaiting help.

“It was pretty scary because it was cold, the water was still coming in and a couple of us we were starting to show the early signs of hypothermia,” said fellow firefighter Dan Borges, who was among several people wearing T-shirts and no jackets at the time. “I couldn’t stop shivering, I tried to stick my arms down into the (pant) bottoms, but it wasn’t enough. Boy it was sure nice when they called and said there was a helicopter coming in from down south.”

The award was given at a short ceremony at the sheriff’s hangar at Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport. It was attended by Sheriff Steve Freitas, Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Rabbitt, AAA staff and others.

Freitas spoke to the group, pointing out that the award also honors the team effort of Deputy Chris Mahoney, a tactical flight officer, and paramedic Don Ricci, who both took part in the rescue with Bradley.

Freitas told the group that while the rescue was “unique because it was far away, this is the kind of stuff they do every day.”

Last year, the Henry 1 crew performed about 110 rescues, spokeswoman Sgt. Cecile Focha said. About 70 percent took place within Sonoma County and the remainder were calls to help with rescues outside the county. The unit does more than rescues and in an average year responds to between 600 and 1,000 calls to assist law enforcement actions, such as helping deputies on the ground track fleeing suspects. They assist in a small number of fire incidents, with about seven per year.

The sheriff’s helicopter budget for the fiscal year 2013-2014 was just over $1.4 million. The unit includes a sergeant, deputy and pilot as well as on-call paramedics. Friends of Henry 1 reimbursed the $3,510 cost of the Del Norte County mission.

Facing a budget crisis in 2011, the county evaluated whether the program was worth the expense.

“I am glad we kept the program intact. I know they took a hit (to the budget) and hopefully over the years we can grow the program further,” Rabbitt said, referring to staff cuts to the program.

Freitas said he and others were leaving the ceremony to discuss how to plan to replace the helicopter. Assistant Sheriff Rob Giordano said the Bell 407 is meticulously maintained and fit to fly, however there are some safety mechanisms that have become industry practice that cannot be installed on the older-model aircraft.

Tim Admire, board member of the nonprofit Friends of Henry 1, said they are about to launch an aggressive fundraising effort and hope to raise $1 million next year.

The Bell 407 is an “exquisite helicopter that has a lot of versatility” said Mark Pazin, Chief of Law Enforcement for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the agency that requested the Henry 1 team respond to the Del Norte County rescue.

Pazin said the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office helicopter program is known for its expertise in oceanside rescues.

On May 24, 2013, the initial call was vague and came in at just before 7:45 p.m. A man told the dispatcher that a woman was injured, possibly from an assault or a cliffside fall.

Responding to the call that day, Del Norte County Sheriff’s Deputy Jerrin Gill began running down the trails at Nickel Creek campground near Enderts Beach in Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park to find her. Firefighters and paramedics also were sent. Based on the initial information, they expected they would be hauling the woman up a trail and were dressed for the warm day and rigorous climb.

Gill eventually found the caller and he and the other responders were led about a mile down the beach and through sea caves to find the 27-year-old woman, seriously injured and incoherent on a rock, the waves washing over her.

“As the tide came in, we kept having to get her onto a higher rock,” Gill said.

The tide came in, filling the sea caves and nearly surrounding the rocky outcropping where three paramedics, the deputy, a civilian shadowing the deputy for a “ride-along,” three firefighters, a state park ranger and the man who made the initial call were stuck.

A Coast Guard helicopter team arrived to rescue them, hoisting the injured woman in a rescue basket and the man who reported the incident into the craft and flying them to safety. But then commanders at the Coast Guard ordered the crew to not attempt to rescue the emergency responders because of the dark and dangerous conditions. The stranded rescuers were to wait until daybreak and low tide when they could walk out.

They were on 15-by-20 foot rock with crashing waves on three sides and a steep cliff behind them. The Coast Guard dropped food, jackets and a stove to help them survive the night.

“We were trying to figure out how we’re going to stay warm, huddling up, there were a couple of people showing signs of hypothermia. My fingers were starting to go numb,” said Reno, the fire captain.

On shore, sheriff’s personnel were scrambling to find a helicopter crew willing and able to help the group. Crescent City Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Wakefield said he was horrified the rescuers were abandoned in dangerous conditions.

Sheriff’s officials requested help from the state emergency services agency, which arranged for Henry 1 to head to the area.

They arrived at 11: 43 p.m. Bradley flew Ricci, the paramedic, at the end of a 100-foot line to the group. They were brought to safety, one by one. All were ashore within 20 minutes.

For Gill, the rescue is now part of his life story. He met his wife, a paramedic on her first day of work, as the pair carried the injured woman out of the water. He and Noelle Gill were married in September by a preacher who talked about the rescue during the ceremony.

“If we were out there all night, we would have been hypothermic,” Gill said.

“I think they deserve every bit of it,” Wakefield said of the award and money. “I hope they use that money to get part of a new helicopter so they can do it again for somebody else.”

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@?pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.