How sheriff's office uses helicopter unit to save lives

King County helicopter unit saving lives from the sky

Despite using a 50-year-old helicopter and having only four pilots, the King County Sheriff’s Office Air Support Unit successfully executed back-to-back rescues in January, including a night hoist operation to save injured skiers at Stevens Pass, aided by an SOS alert from an Apple Watch.

KING COUNTY, Wash. - At a moment’s notice, the King County Sheriff’s Office Air Support Unit is ready to take off to save the lives of people stranded or in danger in the mountain regions of the area.

With nearly 70-degree days in the forecast for this weekend, many will head out to the trails. If an emergency strikes, the King County Sheriff’s Office Air Support Unit is ready 24/7.

"We as cops joke about, ‘everyone loves a firefighter.’ So, now we get to do some of the rescuing ourselves," said Deputy Tony Mullinax.

The KCSO Air Support Unit

Hundreds of feet over the mountains of Western Washington, Mullinax and the KCSO Air Support Unit locate and rescue people experiencing their worst day.

"You could have someone bleeding to death. You could have someone experiencing symptoms of a heart attack where time matters," he said.

Back-to-back rescues

The backstory:

In January, the air support unit stayed busy with multiple rescues.

On January 19, a hiker fell on Guye Peak. Because of the remote location, KCSO’s Guardian 2 helicopter took off.

Three days later, on January 22, the air support unit got the call again. This time, several skiers were injured near Stevens Pass after falling about 1000 feet.

"We accepted the mission and determined that the injuries and risk to the people involved was worth the risk to us to do a night hoist in the mountains," said Mullinax.

Video of the rescues makes the work look easy, but that is far from the truth, Mullinax tells FOX 13 Seattle.

"It’s hard as the pilot, like, sitting there hovering in the dark next to a mountain for that long, while you’re sending a guy up and down," he said.

With two helicopters in the air (one to search and one to rescue), KCSO Air Support Unit pulled three hikers from Stevens Pass to safety during the mission.

The air support unit was able to find the injured skiers thanks to an SOS alert from one of the victim’s Apple Watch.

"From the time we got the call until the time we were at Harborview, was a matter of hours, instead of a matter of, probably, days if we had to walk in and get them," said Mullinax.

50-year-old gear

Right now, there are only four pilots in the air support unit, and the rescue helicopter the team uses is five decades old, Mullinax said.

"The problem is that’s a big ask. I mean, you’re talking $15 to 20 million for a modern rescue-equipped helicopter and then all of the training that goes with learning to fly it."

With calls constantly coming in throughout the entire year, the team is hopeful they’ll be able to grow the unit in the future.

How to stay safe

Mullinax tells FOX 13 Seattle if you are planning on heading out, make sure to bring some sort of device that you can use to communicate if cell service is not available, like the Apple Watch that helped to save the skiers at Stevens Pass.

He suggests bringing clothes for the weather, something you can use to make a fire, a device to signal for help like a whistle, mirror, or flair gun, something you can make shelter with, and plenty of water and food.

"It may be a matter of hours, or it may be a matter of days until help can first of all find you, then rescue you," he said.