VIDEO: Rural Metro Fire officials will show off their new helipad Wednesday in Corryton. WATE 6 On Your Side got a first look at the upgrade to learn how this will keep this rural portion of East Tennessee safe.
The helipad will most notably cut down transportation times when in case of a trauma or critical emergency. Wayne Waggoner, the Facilities Manager with Rural Metro Fire, said this will cut the transport time from about 40 or 50 minutes by car down to less than 15 minutes by helicopter.
“It’s a long trip from Corryton to a level 1 trauma center at UT hospital, we wanted to make sure we set something up here to get people as quickly as we can to the hospital,” said Waggoner. Waggoner also said when Rural Metro Fire relocated the Corryton fire station in 2021 the community and the county leaders realized there was a real need for a Federal Aviation Administration-approved helipad.