FIREFIGHTERS GET NEW HELICOPTER.

Byline: Judy O'Rourke Special to the Daily News

SANTA CLARITA - The Fire Department has beefed up its response team in Santa Clarita due to increased fire danger, and a new high-tech helicopter is another weapon in its arsenal.

The aptly named Firehawk, the Los Angeles County Fire Department's third, is bigger, safer and more capable than older, fixed-wing aircraft.

``They can get to scenes faster, carry more crews and patients ... and if you lose an engine you can still function with it,'' said Capt. Erich Goetz, who supervises paramedics for the department's air operations. ``I feel safer in the Hawk.''

Goetz said the customized Sikorsky helicopter carries 1,000 gallons of water versus 360 gallons in the department's water-dropping planes, and it can swoop down low to siphon water from an aqueduct or lake without help from an engine crew on the ground. The older planes need ground support from fire crews.

The new aircraft can mobilize a larger crew - up to 11, including the pilot and two paramedic-firefighters versus seven in the old planes. They are used for air ambulance runs, to hoist victims from the ground and for firefighting.

When the blades are spinning, the planes create a more powerful downward draft than the older models so pilots have to be very careful when they land.

Helicopters are deployed in Lancaster and Sylmar, but with their 140-knot capability, they are only a call away.

``They can be here within minutes,'' Goetz said.

The department owns eight helicopters, including the two other Firehawks. The heavy twin-engine copters, which are related to the Black Hawks used by the military, cost $14 million to $18 million each, depending upon their equipment, Goetz said. The Fire Department and the U.S. Forest Service are on alert in the valley because of last year's massive rains and the abundant grasses and brush that have since sprouted.

``They are now drying out and posing the largest fire hazard to us,'' said Stanton Floria, a Forest Service spokesman. In the Angeles National Forest, the fire danger is high, ranked at the third of six alert levels.

The alert could heighten in the next six weeks to 10 weeks if Santa Ana winds kick up. Many people vacation in the forest during Labor Day weekend, but Floria said he does not expect the alert level to rise before the holiday weekend. Five additional fire engines, a battalion chief and more than 20 firefighters were deployed to Santa Clarita last week. Inspector Jason Hurd said the extra manpower is stationed at Station 126, near the Valencia Town Center.

The Fire Department and Forest Service often work in tandem when flames erupt in areas either agency could respond to. The one with the nearest engine heads out first.