Transporting Medical Personnel And Patients Free Of Charge

A group of volunteer pilots has been donating their time and airplanes in the wake of devastating fires and later mudslides in southern California. The pilots are transporting first responders, doctors and patients to where they are needed in the area.

Television station KABC reports that pilots are learning of the need for their services in part through a grassroots website thomasfirehelp.org. It was initially focused on victims of the wildfire, but expanded it to other transportation services when they saw a need.

It began with cancer patient who needed to be taken to a doctor's appointment that would have otherwise been unable to make it because roads had been closed due to fire and mudslide debris. She made the appointment with the help of a local pilot.

In only a few days, the number of pilots volunteering to help has grown to more than 50, and aircraft offered for use includes a helicopter, according to website coordinator Emily Barany.

Pilot Jeff Moorehouse described a recent trip on which he delivered blood to San Luis Obispo. He said without the airplane "it would have been a six-hour trip to get the blood up there."

FMI: Original report