Chelan County Fire District #1 is looking to double their helicopter fleet after sending the parts for a second helicopter to a company near Olympia.
Northwest Helicopters have been contracted to take an old Bell UH-1 Iroquois (known by many as a ‘Huey’) and parts and convert that inventory into a functional wildland rotor.
“Converting an old Vietnam Huey from a machine gun-toting military helicopter into a water-carrying rotor, we would probably (install) a belly tank under it.” stated Chief Brian Brett, “All the military contents will be removed, the avionics will be updated and built to a wildland-spec’d helicopter that can deliver water and people.”
Brett said that although they hope the project will be complete by the beginning of next year’s wildfire season, this will not be a short process.