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MARIN CO.: RETROFITTED BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER TO BE USED FOR NORTH BAY WILDFIRES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PG&E

A Black Hawk helicopter modified to haul 900 gallons of water will be boosting the Marin County Fire Department’s aerial resources this fire season in a pilot program with PG&E. The Marin County Board of Supervisors at its regular meeting Tuesday authorized the fire department’s chief to enter into an agreement with PG&E for the trial program.

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This modified, PG&E-owned Black Hawk Sikorsky UH-60A will be stationed in the North Bay as part of a trial partnership with the Marin County Fire Department from July-October 2023. (PG&E via Bay City News)
This modified, PG&E-owned Black Hawk Sikorsky UH-60A will be stationed in the North Bay as part of a trial partnership with the Marin County Fire Department from July-October 2023. (PG&E via Bay City News)

By Thomas Hughes

Bay City News

A Black Hawk helicopter modified to haul 900 gallons of water will be boosting the Marin County Fire Department’s aerial resources this fire season in a pilot program with PG&E.

The Marin County Board of Supervisors at its regular meeting Tuesday authorized the fire department’s chief to enter into an agreement with PG&E for the trial program.

PG&E owns the helicopter, which is a Sikorsky UH-60A model. PG&E will pay for the cost of operating the helicopter in county areas for the first two hours of flight time per mission, up to a total of 40 hours of flight time during fire season. It will also cover the cost of staging the helicopter and having pilots on standby. Operators will be from Red Bluff-based PJ Helicopters.

Fires that are burning in state or federal land can be fully reimbursed by relevant partner agencies, according to Marin County Fire Chief Jason Weber, who made the request to the board.

The Black Hawk will be exclusively available to the Marin County Fire Department and partner agencies, which will have the ability to utilize the helicopter in other North Bay Area counties as needed.

Weber said the partnership will provide a resource that the fire department otherwise couldn’t afford.

“The cost of aircraft is prohibitively expensive, I would say, for small organizations like us or even our local government partners, cities, towns that are out there,” Weber said during his presentation.

The addition of the dedicated helicopter is meant to provide additional capacity when other air resources provided by Cal Fire are tied up elsewhere.

A PG&E spokesman who spoke at the board meeting said it was the first such pilot program the utility had undertaken.

“This partnership represents a pivotal moment in our collective efforts to address the wildfire risk that threatens our communities,” said Mark Quinlan, senior vice president of wildfire & emergency operations at PG&E.

Operational command during fires will go through the fire department’s command center. Requests by partner agencies to use the helicopter will also go through the fire department.

The program will run from July through October.

The location where the helicopter will be staged is still undetermined, but it will be somewhere in the North Bay, according to Weber.

Cal Fire has two aircraft designated to cover Marin County. One is staged at Moffett Federal Airfield in Santa Clara County and the other is stationed at the Boggs Mountain Helitack Base in Lake County.

“This gives us a resource that’s a little bit closer, with the goal that we’re keeping small fires small,” Weber said.

Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.  All rights reserved.  Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

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Oakland Post: Week of February 26 – March 4, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 26 – March 4, 2025

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Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025

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U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Lateefah Simon to Speak at Elihu Harris Lecture Series

The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

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U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (left) and Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) (Right).
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (left) and Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) (Right).

By Scott Horton

United States House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8) will be a speaker at the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series on Friday, Feb. 21.

The event will be held at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, 10 Tenth Street in Oakland, at 7 p.m.

The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

The overarching goal of the lecture series is to provide speakers from diverse backgrounds a platform to offer their answers to Dr. King’s urgent question, which is also the title of Jeffries’ latest book: “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?”

In addition to Jeffries, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) will also speak.

“Certainly, now is a time for humanity, in general, and Americans in particular to honestly and genuinely answer Dr. King’s question,” said Dr. Roy D. Wilson, Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Executive Producer of the lecture series.

“Dr. King teaches that time is neutral but not static. Like the water in a river, it arrives and then quickly moves on,” continued Wilson. “We must urgently create conditions for listening to many different answers to this vital question, and generate the development of unity of action among all those who struggle for a stronger democracy.”

In his book, Jeffries shares his experience of being unanimously elected by his colleagues as the first African American in history to ever hold the position of House Minority Leader.

In January 2023 in Washington, Jeffries made his first official speech as House Minority Leader. He affirmed Democratic values one letter of the alphabet at a time. His words and how he framed them as the alphabet caught the attention of Americans, and the speech was later turned into a book, The ABCs of Democracy, bringing Congressman Jeffries rousing speech to vivid, colorful life, including illustrations by Shaniya Carrington. The speech and book are inspiring and urgent as a timeless reminder of what it means to be a country with equal opportunities for all. Jeffries paints a road map for a brighter American future and warns of the perils of taking a different path.

Before his colleagues unanimously elected him Minority Leader in 2022, Jeffries previously served as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and as an Impeachment Manager during the first Senate trial of the 45th President of the United States.

Jeffries was born in Brooklyn Hospital, raised in Crown Heights, grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church and he is a product of New York City’s public school system, graduating from Midwood High School. Jefferies went on to Binghamton University (BA), Georgetown University (master’s in public policy) and New York University (JD).

He served in the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.

Admission is free for the Feb. 21 Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series featuring Congressman Jeffries. Please reserve seats by calling the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center at (510) 434-3988.

Signed copies of his book will be available for purchase at the event.

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