Wenatchee Fire Department Enhances Aerial Resources With Refurbished Helicopter

The Wenatchee Valley Fire Department has received a second helicopter to fight fires after a lengthy refurbishing of a helicopter that was mothballed at the Malaga Heliport and hangar. The 1962 Bell UH-1H is commonly called a Huey, and it was flown in from Olympia and arrived Sunday afternoon. The new helicopter doubles the capability for the department and increases the availability of air resources in the area.

Chelan County Fire Commissioner Phil Dormaier was on the delivery flight back to Wenatchee and remarked on the decade-long effort, culminating with the addition of a second Huey to the WVFD fleet.

"This is a great day for us. We started looking at this back in 2015 after the Sleepy Hollow Fire and the problems we had in getting air assets at that time. We knew we had this second ship here in the hangar, and it had been sitting here for a few decades, so we thought, why are we sitting on this? We should get this operational and get it in the air and serving everyone here in the valley."

Fire Chief Brian Brett says the aircraft is a refurbished Huey that was sitting in the Malaga hangar and was used for parts to service the WVFD's other Huey. In 2021, the department decided to refurbish the hull, engine, transmission, rotor blades, and other useful parts and sell others that were not necessary. The nearly $90,000 in proceeds was used for the rebuild, and additional parts were acquired through a federal government surplus program at no cost to the fire department.

BEFORE

The net cost to the fire department to add the refurbished helicopter was $1.18 million, but the refurbished aircraft is valued at $2.5 million. Brett says a new fire engine, for comparison, is $1.3 million.

AFTER

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WVFD and the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have an Interlocal Agreement (ILA) that allows the DNR to use the department's Malaga Heliport and Hangar. Under the ILA, DNR provides the pilot, and both agencies provide helicopter crewmembers. The ILA covers the annual operating costs of the helicopters. Since the 1960s-era Hueys tend to appreciate in value, WVFD plans to sell them and use the proceeds to update to the next generation of helicopter in the future.

Brett says the air capability has made a significant impact on fire response in the last 7 years. The chief says the second aircraft is a force multiplier; when one helicopter is deployed, the second is now available if another fire develops.

The WVFD's first Huey is identified as 1MR and the new arrival is designated 1PR  These are abbreviations of the tail signs. The Huey 1MR has a notable military service record in the Viet Nam War. It was struck by small weapons fire during missions in June and August 1967. The co-pilot was killed in the June incident, but both missions were completed successfully. The military service history for the newly arrived Huey 1PR was not available.

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