Pitching in for a safer Porangahau chopper
Emergency services will now no longer have to grapple with sheep and mud when responding to emergencies at Porangahau, with a new fenced concrete rescue helicopter pad at White Domain.
Armed with shovels, a group of locals from the CHB coastal community were out in force last Thursday to build the pad, a community initiative sparked by health and safety concerns.
Resident Paula Stoddart said that for years now the Lowe Corporation rescue helicopter had landed on the rugby field, at night guided by a remotely activated light.
“Being a rural community we have a lot of emergency callouts — this summer alone there were eight. Sheep are grazed on the rugby field and we started getting complaints from the helicopter pilots and paramedics about the droppings getting between the wheels of the stretcher and on their boots.”
She said this would then be trailed onto the helicopter and into the hospital emergency department, and had become a health and safety issue.
If sheep were in the paddock at the time of a call-out it would mean bringing in fire brigade volunteers to wrangle the sheep while the helicopter landed, she added.
“It involved a lot of people.” Discussions were held with the helicopter trust who told them about how a group of Ma¯ hia locals in the same position had built their own concrete pad and fenced it off.
After consulting with Lowe Corporation management, CHB district council — owners of the land, which is managed by the rugby club — and Porangahau emergency services, a similar plan was devised.
“Local farmer Paul Cameron, who had volunteered for St John for 30 years, then went out on his own and built the foundations.”
Last Thursday the concrete arrived and it was all hands on deck tolay it. Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter general manager Ian Wilmot said it was a fantastic community effort.
“They have taken on a community project which we applaud — we gave them a properly engineered design to follow that will take the weight of the helicopter, and they got the money together to do the job. We are really pleased to have been part of it — it's a great initiative.”