By Jordan Graham and Tony Saavedra

Orange County Register

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — The battles over which agency should conduct air rescues in Orange County have become so frequent and so dangerous that county supervisors decided Tuesday to refer the problem to a state agency in the hope it can help settle a dispute.

The board’s direction came after Orange County Fire Authority Chief Patrick McIntosh told supervisors his pilots would continue responding to air rescue calls and ignore Sheriff Sandra Hutchens’ recent decision to unilaterally take over helicopter rescue operations in the county’s remote areas.

Hutchens’ announcement Jan. 16 formally ended a prior agreement that named Orange County Fire Authority as the county’s primary responder. It also came after two years during which pilots from the Sheriff’s Department and the fire authority have regularly clashed, with helicopters from both agencies racing to rescue scenes on dozens of calls, at times arguing over radio and face-to-face after flying in the same airspace.

On Tuesday, county supervisors and lawyers didn’t dispute Hutchens’ authority to assume control of air rescues. But supervisors said they had become so frustrated with the two agencies’ inability to cooperate or negotiate that the issue needed to be referred to a state or federal authority. Supervisors floated the idea of contacting the Federal Aviation Administration before deciding to refer the situation to the California Office of Emergency Services.

“It’s the highest authority I can think of in California to deal with first responders,” Supervisor Todd Spitzer said. “I think it’s imperative to notify them, ask for their advice, and see whether they would be able to supply some guidance.”

Supervisor Shawn Nelson said recent incidents in which fire and sheriff’s helicopters flew in close proximity to each other were “so far outside of the realm of acceptable (that) somebody needs their license taken now.” He described the incidents as an ongoing “game of airborne chicken.”

“Do I ask the FAA to review these incidents? Start revoking pilots’ licenses?” Nelson asked. “How do I avoid a catastrophe?”

County Counsel Leon Page said another short-term response could be to report close encounters between helicopters to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, which he said could file charges against fire authority pilots for “interfering” with the Sheriff’s Department’s “peace officer in the performance of their duties.”

“It is potentially a crime if OCFA interferes with the action of Sheriff’s Department pilots,” Page said.

Spitzer urged McIntosh to abide by Hutchens’ “pronouncement under state law” and not send his helicopters to wilderness rescues. But McIntosh told supervisors that OCFA would continue its air-rescue operations based in part on the direction of its attorneys. He said the agency’s board will meet Thursday and discuss the matter further in closed session.

“We will commit to strong (helicopter) radio communication,” McIntosh said.

The fire authority issued a statement late Tuesday saying it remains a separate legal entity and will continue to provide the same service it has since 2000.

In October, county supervisors voted to give the Sheriff’s Department control of search and rescue operations, ending an arrangement in which fire authority pilots had been the primary responders since at least the 1990s. But the Sheriff’s Department didn’t assert full control of those duties until last week, when it ended its agreement with OCFA.

Hutchens said she terminated the agreement because mediation between the agencies had gone nowhere. Officials from both agencies have met at least 40 times to hammer out a solution to their conflict, with no result. Both Hutchens and McIntosh offered on Tuesday to re-enter mediation, but neither leader clearly agreed to a binding arbitration in which both sides would have to abide by an independent mediator’s decision.

Brad Alexander, spokesman for the Office of Emergency Services, said the state agency “works with many jurisdictions to assist them in improving their emergency management practices where appropriate” and would evaluate the county’s request when it received it.

The Sheriff’s Department and the fire authority each has insisted it is better qualified than the other to make air rescues. Sheriff’s helicopters tend to arrive first to scenes, while fire helicopters tend to get people to hospitals faster.

But reports suggest both units have had unflattering incidents in recent months.

On Jan. 14, a fire helicopter flew in close proximity between two sheriff’s copters over Irvine Regional Park, according to radio chatter. Fire officials later denied that the agency’s pilots flew at an unsafe distance from the other helicopters.

On July 6, a sheriff’s pilot had to be rescued by a fire authority helicopter. An incident report obtained by The Orange County Register says that sheriff pilots landed in the area of Ortega Highway and Hot Springs Canyon Road to rescue a fallen bicyclist. The victim ended up walking out of the canyon. Meanwhile, the sheriff’s helicopter malfunctioned, the report said.

Firefighters hoisted the stranded sheriff’s pilot and flight officer into an Orange County Fire Authority helicopter and flew them back to their station at John Wayne Airport, says the report.

In multiple complaints to the state, sheriff’s pilots also were accused of flying recklessly and without regard for safety standards.

One report says a water-carrying sheriff’s helicopter refused to leave the site of an Irvine fire on Aug. 19 after being told its assistance was no longer needed. Without talking to ground crews, the sheriff’s copter started dropping water, the complaint said. The sheriff’s helicopter continued to make unauthorized water drops, failing to coordinate with other pilots and ground workers before flying off.

“Duke 6 placed ground personnel in danger by dropping water without coordination,” the complaint by the fire authority said.

The Sheriff’s Department didn’t respond to a request for comment about the reported incidents.

Copyright 2018 Orange County Register