Earthquake!

FLIGHT OPERATIONS

Earthquake! CALSTAR and Stanford Life Flight Transport Victims AfterDeadly Quake Hits California's BayArea Jana Lillie lines. Going to the helicopter, we turned the radios on and immediately heard the county dispatching seven city ambulances to an incident. We let the dispatch know we were available and monitoring the radio. Minutes later we were asked to respond to the Cypress Freeway collapse in Oakland." Tony Leiker, flight nurse for Stanford University Hospital's Life Flight program, was in the labor delivery room transporting a woman in preterm labor when the quake hit. Bottles fell off shelves and broke while beds rolled back and forth. He and the people assisting him widened their stances trying to hold onto the woman's stretcher and the bed. After the earthquake stopped and the woman had been delivered into capable hands, Leiker and his fellow crew members began transporting medical equipment to their BK-117. Feeling the Quake's Power The flight crew at the time included Personnel at CALSTAR, the Califor- pilot Bob Penix; flight nurse Tony nia Shock/Trauma Air Rescue pro- Leiker;and physician Brad Reinke.Begram based at Hayward Airport, were cause the power was out and the waiting in the corridors for the World elevator wasn't working, the men had Series to begin when the earthquake to lug their equipment up four flights hit. The flight crew at that time in- of stairs to the rooftop helipad. cluded pilotTim Tatman, also Director of Flight Operations; flight nurse Rose Freeing A Truck Driver Gaither; and flight nurse Andrew Meanwhile, the CALSTAR flight Swartzell, also Director of Community crew was assessing the heavy damage Relations. The crew's initial reaction done to the Cypress Freeway. Their was that the earthquake would pass Aerospatiale TwinStar had arrived at quickly; when it persisted, however, the scene quickly and, in contact with the crew realized how serious the a nearby California Highway Patrol tremor was and ran out of the building. (CHP) helicopter, had identified a "When the quake subsided," said nearby landing zone secured by the Swartzell, "we went back in and found Oakland Police Department. "I've the power gone, along with radio com- done emergency-related work for 15 munications to our dispatch phone years," said flight nurse Andrew

At 5:04 p.m. Tuesday, October 17, California's Bay area shuddered through a deadly 7.1 magnitude earthquake lasting 15 seconds. Buildings shook, fires ignited, roads buckled, gas mains broke, and walls toppled. A double-decked portion of the Bay Bridge collapsed, crushing the cars of rush-hour commuters below. More than a millionpeople lost electrical power,and many feared that, more importantly, they had lost loved ones as well.Afrantic search began for survivors. Rescue workers picked their way through the rubble, assisting the injured and shaking their heads over fatalities. While ambulances transported quake victims through grid-locked streets, air medical services such as CALSTAR (Hayward) and Life Flight (Stanford) helped transport victims by air.

The Journal of Air Medical Transport- November 1989

Swartzell, "and I've never seen a situation like the freeway collapse. The freeway's upper portion had collapsed on top of cars, crushing them, and people were running around in a panic. Our flight crew realized then that it was going to be a long night." The CALSTAR helicopter landed by the CHP helicopter, and because the CHP unit was a basic life support helicopter but had a gurney missing, CALSTAR decided to split its flight nurse crew. Swartzell went with the CHP helicopter, while flight nurse Rose Gaither stayed with the CALSTAR helicopter. The flight crews spent the next two hours working with other emergency personnel to extricate a 31-year-old male truck driver from his overturned cab. Falling cement had pinned his lower body from the hips down. According to Swartzell, the truck driver had hip fractures, a broken leg, a dislocated shoulder, a fractured clavicle, a broken forearm, multiple broken bones, facial lacerations, a lung contusion, mild shock, and a probable concussion, among other injuries. "Our first job," said Swartzell, "was to get to him and relieve the pressure on his legs so we could free him and treat his injuries." Once the crews had accomplished that, CAISfAR flew the patient to John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek, California. CALSTAR again contacted the county dispatchers, who asked them to fly south to WatsonvilleCommunity Hospital to help transport patients. CALSTAR exchanged pilots, with pilot Craig Mossman flying the rest of the evening while day pilot Tim Tatman stayed at the office helping coordinate 17

FLIGHTOPERATlONS darkness where cities should be, we began to realize that power was out everywhere. Watsonville Community Hospital was easy to find, because it had emergency generators and was about the only thing lit in its area." The life Flight helicopter passed several fires burning out of control in the Santa Cruz Mountains. "I remember passing a house totally engulfed in flames," continued Rose. "The odd thing about itwas that no one was fighting the fire." More Work at Watsonville Leiker said the evening's events At Stanford University Hospital, the LifeFlight crew was dispatched first to seemed somewhat unreal. "When we the AMFAC Hotel near the San Fran- flew into Watsonville, we saw everycisco Airport. Reports were that thing dark but the areas lit by emerseveral floors had collapsed, but on gency lights," he explained. "People arriving at the scene the crew was informed that injuries were relatively As we headed south minor and they could return to the and saw darkness hospital. They were asked to check out a few things on their way, however. where cities should be, Dispatchers had sent ambulances to we began to realize major areas of damage and didn't have enough to cover all reported accithat power was out dents, so they asked life Flight to fly everywhere. over a couple of accidents. "We didn't Ken Rose. Life Flight Pilot see any problems," said flight nurse Leiker, "so the dispatchers asked us to check some overpasses for damage. were lying around everywhere, and We checked and found them stable, though we knew what we had to do and then flew back to Stanford." did it, at times the atmosphere seemed At 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, the flight like a movie set." crew, now piloted by Ken Rose, was The hospital had mobilized well dispatched to Watsonville Community before life Flight arrived. The emerHospital, where floors had buckled gency room was open and operating, and walls and ceilings had cracked. and triage and treatment areas had The hospital staff had evacuated been set up. Critical patients had been patients from the hospital until the moved to the emergency room for structure's safety could be evaluated. treatment, while less critical patients Patients were everywhere on the front had been kept outside for procedures lawn and in the parking lot, wrapped in like bandaging. Leiker and Reinke blankets, sitting on the grass, sitting in evaluated which patients needed wheelchairs, and lying in gurneys. transport. When Life Flight flew in, a MAST One of the first two patients military helicopter from Ft. Ord was transported was a 15-year-old male. A using the hospital's helipad to roof had collapsed on him, causing transport two patients, so Rose flewhis head trauma, major scalp lacerations, BK-117 to a nearby airport and waited and a fractured right femur. The other for MASTto lift off. was a 41-year-old male who had been The trip to Watsonville was eerie, in a cider factory when the quake had said Rose, noting that "San Jose had knocked apple crates on him, gashing large areas that were dark as we flew his head and fracturing his right tibia over, and as we headed south and saw and fibula. Both patients needed CAT

the dispatch and gathering vital information. At Watsonville, CALSTAR transported two elderly patients who had fallen and sustained hip fractures. After the flight crew's return at 2:30 a.m., crew members rested briefly, then wired in a generator at the airport's base of operations so they could refuel the helicopter and get much-needed light.The next day more earthquake victims were transported.

18

scans, and Watsonville's CATscan and X-ray machines were down, so Leiker and Reinke decided to fly the patients to San Jose Hospital, where they could receive orthopedic surgery. After being given priority refueling at the busy San Jose Jet Center, life Flight returned to Watsonville Community Hospital to transport two patients back to Stanford. The first patient was a 32-year-old male who had been hit by a fallingchimney outdoors. He had chest and head injuries, as well as a left hip and femur fracture. The other was a male in his 30's, who had been hit by an unidentified object. He had major head lacerations and blunt trauma to the rest of his body. The life Flight crew returned to Stanford at 1:00 a.m., remaining on standby should Watsonville Community Hospital need more transport. The crew's adrenaline kept flowing, but Watsonville Community Hospital had circumstances under control and the rest ofthe shift was quiet. Different flight crews handled more transports in coming days. Facing the Non-Routine Crippled communications was the biggest problem faced by air medical crews. Dispatchers labored all night on overloaded phone lines, sometimes calling a dozen times before getting through. The earthquake knocked out power, and a critical Lorna Prieta repeater for life Flight as well. "As we flew south to Watsonville, we lost communication with our dispatch and the hospital," said Rose. CAISfAR also faced problems. "Our dispatch center in San Jose was hit hard enough that dispatchers had to be moved to San Jose Hospital," said Tatman. "Contact became more difficult.Also, many airport control towers were knocked out and had to set up temporary services. Their frequencies and telecasts were difficult to understand at times, but controllers did an excellent job getting back into service." Congested air traffic was another problem. At the Cypress Freeway collapse, the CAISfAR helicopter and

The Journal of Air Medical Transport. November 1989

FLIGHTOPERATIONS CHP helicopter were soon joined by multiple news helicopters, additional CHP helicopters, an Oakland Police helicopter, an East Bay Regional Park helicopter, and people just flying their airplanes in for a look.Though the area was restricted, people flew in anyway. "Pilots in similar situations need to realize how many media-type aircraft converge on disaster scenes," said CALSTAR pilot Tim Tatman. ''When you're on the ground pulling out after picking up a patient, you must also be alert to other aircraft sneaking in to take pictures. Many helicopter pilots who are flying cameramen are looking at the same scenes as the cameramen while trying to hold the helicopter in position. They're not necessarily paying attention to what's going on around them, so you have to." Preparation was considered vital. "I was reminded how important it is to have practice in disaster situations, or to have talked about potential prob-

"Pilots in similar situations need to realize how many media-type aircraft converge on disaster scenes ... " Tim Talman, CALSTAR pilot

lems you might face,"said Tony Leiker of life Flight. 'We never thought we would have problems with our repeaters going out; we never thought we'd face so many communications problems. We hadn't really discussed alternative landing sites because we have plenty of room to land, but not every program does. People seem to rally in emergencies, but air medical services need to look at worst-case scenarios and plan for disasters ahead of time. Having those plans in placeand making sure everyone is familiar with them-makes all the difference when disaster strikes." 0

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