Minn. Firefighters on Rescue Team Get New Helmets

Dec. 19--The 18 St. Paul firefighters who make up the Minnesota Aviation Rescue Team soon will be getting flight helmets designed to keep them safer and assist with communication.

The St. Paul City Council accepted a $23,000 donation for the helmets Wednesday.

The team, started a few years ago, is a partnership between the St. Paul Fire Department and the Minnesota State Patrol, using its helicopters and pilots, said Capt. Alan Gabriele, the team's St. Paul fire coordinator. They rescue people in any area that's hard to access and can be sent statewide.

After a landslide on the river bluffs in St. Paul's Lilydale Regional Park in May that killed two schoolchildren, the MART group was called out.

A State Patrol helicopter with a rescue basket attached carried an injured child to safety; a St. Paul firefighter secured to the helicopter by rope accompanied him.

The next day, MART was called out to rescue a man who fell 80 feet from a Mississippi River bluff in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood. The team also rescued a woman who fell off a river bluff in Red Wing last summer.

The firefighters on the team have helmets intended for rescue work but not for flying, Gabriele said. The flight helmets will provide better protection for firefighters' heads and eyes, Gabriele said. They are equipped with microphones and speakers, which will improve communication with pilots, he said.

The donation for helmets comes from the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation. The sandwich shop, which has three restaurants in the Twin Cities, was started in Jacksonville, Fla., by two brothers who are former firefighters.

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried.

Copyright 2013 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.