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(Stock Photo)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - LifeSaver helicopter in Birmingham, which has flown the injured and wounded for nearly 35 years, shut its doors without warning Tuesday, a move that stunned veteran emergency services providers.

"It's a sad day,'' said Birmingham Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief C.W. Mardis. "LifeSaver is critical for this area."

Many emergency service providers said they've yet to receive any official word from Air Methods Corporation, the Denver-based company that now owns and manages the LifeSaver medical flight program. Trussville Fire Department Battalion Chief Chris Schmohl, who worked part time for LifeSaver, broke the news via email on Tuesday to his fellow providers.

"I regret to inform you all that the Lifesaver 1 Base in Birmingham was closed for business effective immediately today,'' he wrote. "Several employees have lost their only means of employment and I would ask that you pray they can find adequate employment in a reasonable time frame."

Schmohl said LifeSaver 2 in Rainbow City is still operational, as is LifeSaver 4 in Sylacauga. "I thought many of you may need to take this base closing into consideration for future patient flights and the extra time it will take to get an aircraft from another location,'' Schmohl said in his email. Efforts to reach Air Methods officials weren't immediately successful.

Dr. Ben Carraway started the LifeSaver helicopter service in 1979 after moonlighting in rural emergency rooms. He decided many lives could be saved if patients could be rapidly moved to hospitals that offered specialized trauma services.

Carraway Methodist Medical Center funded the program flight program as a community service, though it lost money each year for 20 years. Eventually, the flight program was sold to the for-profit Omniflight, and then Air Methods, but the companies always kept the famed LifeSaver name.

Schmohl said he worked a shift at LifeSaver Sunday and was scheduled to work again today. He received a call Tuesday thanking him for his service and said the Birmingham base was closing immediately. "It is kind of a shock to the system,'' Schmohl said.

The Birmingham base primarily covered Birmingham and all of Jefferson County, north Shelby County, southern Blount and Walker counties and St. Clair County. Other companies, such as Air Evac, cover other parts of the state.

"Jefferson County is surrounded by places that have them, but it's going to take longer,'' Schmohl said. "For some, it's not going to be an option any longer. It's not going to be feasible for the patient to sit there and wait if we can get them to hospital faster by ground. It's still an option, but it may not be the first option."

Birmingham's Mardis said he was shocked at the news. "I think whatever issues there are need to be worked out. We probably have more heart attacks or wrecks than anywhere in the state,'' he said. "We have to get people near death to the hospital in that golden hour and often LifeSaver has been the link."

Hoover Fire Department Executive Officer Rusty Lowe said LifeSaver has been a vital part of the EMS and first-responder community. "It has saved a lot of lives along the way," he said.

Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Randy Christian agreed. "We have utilized LifeSaver hundreds and hundreds of times since its inception,'' he said. "When the difference in life or death can be mere seconds there is no doubt this important resource has saved lives."

"I do not know what led to this interruption in service, but we pray it gets worked out,'' Christian said. "This is a very disturbing development for this area."

The Birmingham Regional Emergency Medical Services System in 1996 began providing trauma routing for the seven counties in the Birmingham metropolitan area. Joe Acker, BREMSS executive director, said today he doesn't think the closing of Birmingham's LifeSaver base will be a significant problem.

"When you look at other flight bases around, we can get aircraft out of Sylacauga or Rainbow City,'' he said. "They fly at three miles per minute. So while it's maybe 30 miles away, that's only 10 minutes flight time."

Often, Acker said, LifeSaver is used in incidents of a person trapped in a vehicle. As long as the rescue workers make the request early enough, while they are still trying to get the patient out of the vehicle, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. "For outlying counties, it just means we have to shift around and make better utilization of the aircrafts,'' Acker said.

Air Methods, he said, made a business decision. "This just happens over time. There's enough fluidity that if we don't get one aircraft, hospital or ambulance, we move to the next and make it work,'' he said. "We're going to do our best to make sure a patient doesn't suffer inappropriately."

"LifeSaver has been a tremendous asset over the years and it's unfortunate we lost it,'' Acker said. "We have to roll with the punches and we're going to do it."