Southern Aviation Ranger Station of the Ministry of Emergency Management: Broaden the field of emergency rescue and create a "sharp knife" force in the air

"According to the plan, the helicopter took water from the bucket of the Qingxi Reservoir, and carried out the training of bucket sprinkler and fixed-point hover sprinkler at different altitudes in the Houshan of Shuhe Ancient Town and the field." On a cold and windy winter day, at the Baisha Heliport in Yulong County, Lijiang City, Yunnan Province, Zhang Zhaoyangzheng, deputy station manager of the Lijiang Station of the Southern Aviation Ranger Station of the Ministry of Emergency Management, discussed the next training precautions with the crew. Nearby, a high-prototype M-171 helicopter with the words "China Emergency" printed on it is doing a pre-flight flight safety inspection.

The "Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party's Century-Old Struggle" points out that it is necessary to strengthen disaster prevention, mitigation, relief, and safe production, and strengthen the national emergency management system and capacity building. "This gives us a clearer direction for the next step to strengthen the capacity building of aviation emergency rescue, in the face of the rescue task of 'all kinds of disasters, large emergencies', we need to practice both the professional ability of aviation firefighting and the superb skills of comprehensive rescue." Yang Xudong, secretary of the party committee of the Southern Airlines Ranger Station, said.

Prepare to deliver supplies to the rescue site

Focus on the "specialized" word to strengthen the ability to carry out research on special tactics

Entering the forest fire prevention period, the terminal bases of the Southern Aviation Ranger Station carry out flight patrol or rescue training almost every day.

During the flight, Zhang Zhaoyang, as a flight observer, always observed the changes in the surrounding environment and the flight status of the helicopter, and communicated with the pilot through communication headsets from time to time. When the helicopter flew near the "fire field", Zhang Zhaoyang decisively issued a sprinkling order at the right time. The helicopter bucket hovered at an altitude of 10 meters from the "fire point", only to see the water in the bucket pouring on the "fire point" like a column of water. In the sprinkler training with speed bucket, the helicopter carried out sprinkler operations at different heights of 50 meters, 65 meters and 80 meters at different speeds.

"Today's sprinklers are similar to what we predicted." Zhang Zhaoyang introduced that there are big differences between the daily training environment and the real fire environment, but the development of special combat research has enabled them to deepen their understanding of aviation fire extinguishing, and the accuracy and efficiency of fire extinguishing have gradually improved.

The southwest forest area where Yunnan and Sichuan are located is located in the Hengduan Mountainous Area, spanning a variety of landforms, with steep slopes, deep valleys and dense forests, large height differences, fire fighting vehicles and large mechanical equipment are difficult to reach directly, it takes a lot of time for the ground fire fighting team to reach the fire site, and the advantages of aviation rescue forces are highlighted here. However, due to the influence of terrain, air flow and other factors, carrying out aviation rescue in the forest area of the plateau alpine canyon is a risky, difficult and technical work.

"The main station has been engaged in forest aviation firefighting for 60 years and has accumulated rich experience in carrying out aviation fire fighting in the complex terrain of high mountains and valleys." Wu Ling, director of the Southern Airlines Ranger Station, introduced that in July 2021, according to the deployment arrangements of the National Forest Defense Index and the Ministry of Emergency Management, the China Southern Airlines Ranger Station took the lead in organizing the study of helicopter hovering, low-speed fire extinguishing and efficient aerial fire extinguishing tactics in the alpine canyon area, especially in the plateau area at the junction of Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet, to solve the problem of alpine fire and cliff fire fighting.

"Under the premise of not affecting flight safety, the closer the helicopter is to the fire point when sprinkling water, the slower the flight speed, the higher the accuracy, and the better the fire extinguishing effect." Cai Xifu, station manager of Lijiang Station, introduced that the station verified and tested the effects of special combat methods such as airborne fire extinguishing, rope slide extinguishing, and the installation of high-pressure water guns and air-delivered fire bladder buckets under different terrain, altitude, wind direction, flight speed, flight speed, etc., and explored the optimal high-altitude fire and cliff fire aviation fire extinguishing tactics. In addition to the aviation fire extinguishing function, the Southern Aviation Ranger Station also undertakes the four functions of satellite forest fire monitoring, forest fire prevention coordination, forest fire prevention material reserve, and aviation emergency rescue training entrusted by the national forest defense finger.

At the Command Center of the Southern Airlines Ranger Station, the staff is on duty 24 hours. Hot spot monitoring and verification, dispatching aircraft, reporting flight plans, coordinating meteorological aviation fuel support... The work is tense and orderly. Through the navigation control command system based on Beidou and ADSB (broadcast automatic related surveillance), the duty personnel can monitor the flight dynamics of helicopters at each terminal online, which records the helicopter model, aircraft number, flight mission, observer, take-off time, landing time, flight time and other information in detail. On the national forest and grassland fire prevention information sharing platform, fire risk warning and monitoring images can also be viewed in various places.

Focus on the "multi-functional" mission to improve comprehensive rescue capabilities

On November 13, 2021, four geological surveyors were lost when they entered the hinterland of Ailao Mountain in Yunnan Province to carry out the special task of the national annual forest resources survey. On the 15th, after receiving the rescue task of the Yunnan Provincial Emergency Management Department to search and rescue the missing personnel of Ailao Mountain, the China Southern Airlines Ranger Station immediately dispatched Pu'er Station to carry out personnel search and rescue work.

The missing area is located in the core area of the Ailao Mountain National Nature Reserve, the terrain is extremely complex, and the weather is changeable after winter, and the search and rescue work faces many difficulties. In order to improve the efficiency of rescue, the rescue command decided to use helicopters to airdrop materials to do a good job in logistics support. During this period, Pu'er Station hoisted and airdropped more than 4,000 kilograms of food, medicine, field equipment and other materials for the ground search and rescue team. "The timely airdrop of rescue materials provides a strong guarantee for expanding the scope of search and rescue and improving the efficiency of rescue." Yang Lin, director of the Navigation And Protection Department of the Southern Airlines Ranger Station, said.

Wu Ling introduced that since the transfer of ownership, the China Southern Airlines Ranger Station has accelerated the promotion of aviation emergency rescue from a single disaster to multi-disaster rescue, from regional rescue to global rescue, from seasonal disaster relief to year-round disaster relief, and continuously improve the comprehensive ability to deal with various disasters and accidents. For more than three years, China Southern Airlines Ranger Station has participated in the aviation emergency rescue tasks of geological disasters such as the "9.8" earthquake in Mojiang County, Yunnan Province in 2018, the "11.3" Baige Barrage Lake in Jinsha River, and the mudslide in Gongshan Mountain in Nujiang, Yunnan In 2020.

Cai Xifu, station manager of Lijiang Station, has been deeply impressed by the rescue of baige barrage lake in the "11.3" Jinsha River. "At that time, the route was obscured by low clouds and there was no flight conditions at all, so we removed the helicopter rotor and loaded it into containers and transported it by vehicle to the disaster site." Cai Xifu introduced that at that time, he had just been transferred to the ministry, had not performed relevant tasks, and could only grope forward in actual combat.

"After the institutional reform, the rescue tasks undertaken by the team are more diversified, and only when the usual training is in place can the response be effective at critical moments." Wu Ling introduced that under the strategy of "bringing in and going out", all terminals and forest defense fingers, emergency management, forest and grassland departments and forest fire brigades at all levels in the protection area have established an emergency linkage mechanism, strengthened joint training, joint exercises, and joint operations, continuously strengthened ground-air cooperation, and significantly improved the team's aviation comprehensive rescue capability.

At the beginning of 2020, the outbreak of new crown pneumonia in Hubei, the province's traffic is closed, ground transportation is restricted, and medical supplies are in short supply everywhere, in accordance with the arrangements of the Ministry of Emergency Management, The Southern Airlines Ranger Station and the Hubei Provincial Emergency Management Department actively coordinate aviation rescue forces to undertake emergency flight tasks such as air transportation of medical and epidemic prevention materials, air reconnaissance and disinfection of epidemic prevention and control. During this period, the two helicopters flew a total of 29 times, and successively delivered 24 tons of masks, protective clothing, emergency medicines and other materials to Xiangyang, Yichang, Enshi and other places.

Where the people need it most, we can always see the aviation power of the Southern Airlines Ranger Station. In order to support the construction of poverty alleviation in Daliangshan, Sichuan, heavy helicopters were dispatched to lift large excavators and other mechanical equipment to AbuLoha Village, which was unable to access the highway, to help open the last road through the village; helicopters were dispatched to search and rescue missing people at sea, and according to the search and rescue situation, timely suggestions were made to provide strong support for rescue; when earthquakes and floods occurred, they took the initiative to undertake rescue tasks such as aerial disaster investigation, transfer of personnel, and delivery of materials.

Insist on "walking on two legs" aviation emergency rescue and then speed up

At present, the infrastructure equipment project of Baisha Heliport at Lijiang Station is accelerating. Zhang Zhaoyang said: "The airport will increase the number of aprons, flight tracks, taxiing liaison lanes, and improve supporting facilities such as upgrading crew dormitories, comprehensive training grounds, navigation control command systems, and navigational lighting systems." "After completion, the Baisha Heliport can meet the needs of more than 10 helicopters at the same time, which will greatly enhance the comprehensive ability of aviation rescue forces to quickly deal with various types of disasters and accidents in the border areas of Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet."

Rescue and disaster relief, expensive in a "fast" word. Some accidents and disasters often occur in remote areas or areas where ground forces are difficult to reach quickly, so it is necessary to rely on aviation emergency rescue forces to respond early and minimize losses. In the actual emergency rescue, due to the small number of station distribution points, coupled with the impact of factors such as routes, meteorology and air traffic control, there is also a problem of "far water is difficult to quench the thirst of the near".

In this regard, the China Southern Airlines Ranger Station vigorously promoted the construction of the terminal and insisted on "walking on two legs".

Wu Ling introduced that in accordance with the principle of "practical combat, urgent use first", the China Southern Airlines Ranger Station has vigorously promoted the planning and construction of aviation rescue airports, field take-off and landing sites and water intake points with grid layout in key areas with frequent disasters, and initially formed an aviation emergency rescue system with reasonable layout of the station, sensitive emergency response, reasonable functional structure, and significant improvement of aviation rescue capabilities, realizing rapid response and efficient rescue.

In order to improve the aviation emergency rescue support mechanism, the Southern Airlines Ranger Station took the initiative to visit and coordinate, and established a good cooperative relationship with relevant departments and units in the region, providing strong support for the rapid dispatch of aviation emergency rescue and field operations.

In recent years, traditional security threats and non-traditional security threats have been intertwined, "black swan" and "gray rhinoceros" incidents have occurred from time to time, the security situation has become more severe and complex, and various disasters and accidents have occurred frequently, which has put forward higher requirements for aviation emergency rescue capabilities.

The search and rescue mission for missing personnel on Ailao Mountain made many flight observers feel the limitations of helicopters in personnel search and rescue. "The depths of Ailao Mountain are densely forested and have poor visibility, and it is difficult for flight observers to find the missing personnel with the naked eye." In Zhang Zhaoyang's view, helicopters should strengthen the equipping of advanced instruments such as thermal imagers and life detectors.

"In recent years, the comprehensive emergency rescue capability of China Southern Aviation Ranger Station has developed by leaps and bounds, but there is still a certain gap between the capabilities required to meet various rescue tasks." Wu Ling said that in the next step, the terminal will deeply study and implement the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, actively explore and study aviation fire fighting tactics that are more suitable for alpine and valley areas, and improve comprehensive emergency rescue capabilities.

(Original title: Southern Aviation Ranger Station of the Ministry of Emergency Management focuses on comprehensive emergency rescue to improve quality and energy - broaden the field of emergency rescue to create a "sharp knife" force in the air)

Source: China Emergency Management Newspaper Responsible Editor: Zhao Lian Luo Disheng

Author: Zhao Lian, a reporter of this newspaper

China Emergency Management News New Media Center Editor: Dong Chen