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It’s a service that may go under the radar for most people in the province, but Rise Air’s Medevac provides a much-needed service for the province’s north.
Located in La Ronge, the Medevac crew fly around 1,800 missions each year, and up until Monday, they were able to operate in La Ronge with no problems.
But the quickly approaching wildfire forced crews to evacuate, flying down the final planes on Monday night.
Read more:
- ‘Hats off to them’: Crews continue to fight ‘monster’ wildfire in La Ronge
- Provincial fire crews continue uphill battle with mother nature and look forward to weekend rain
- Rain expected to hit wildfires in northern Sask. this weekend
Captain Robert Pacey helped pilot one of the flights that made its way to Saskatoon, where Rise Air Medevac is resuming operations.
“There are lots of logistics, people in Saskatoon set up for us to get down here,” he said. “It was kind of a thing that snowballed from the morning, we had an idea what was going to be happening, and our chief pilot and the higher-ups down south organized that.”
The inside of the Rise Air Medevac Plane (Will Mandzuk/650CKOM)
Pacey said the great thing about Medevac is that they can operate almost anywhere.
“We’re pretty versatile in the work we do,” he said. “We’re able to, on a moment’s notice, change whatever plans we need to. It’s our life we live in the Medevac world.”
Other than the change of location, Pacey said all operations stay the same, and the crew has extra supplies if needed.
“We have fuel on board, we have medics, we have the equipment,” he said. “Really (it’s) just changing places, it’s just a different scenery.”
Six Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), along with at least 15 pilots, are in Saskatoon now operating out of the Rise Air hangar.
As the wildfires rage on, Medevac services, specifically those who can make it all the way up to the northernmost communities in Saskatchewan, become that much more vital.
“It’s super important, with a higher risk in the north with fires and people getting hurt,” said Pacey. “Nothing’s happened as of right now which is good, everyone’s safe, and (we’re) still providing that service to northern Saskatchewan.”
Rise Air medevac plane inside the hangar (Will Mandzuk/650CKOM)
Pacey’s wife and daughter had evacuated on Friday, allowing him to focus on what he needed to do.
“That was nice because they were out of town,” he said. “I just had to worry about me and they were taken care of.”
“She (his daughter) understands there’s a fire and … we left it at Dad’s at work. She knows dad flies around sick people and she really enjoys that… she always says when I go to work, ‘Daddy, you go and fly around sick people’ so it’s cool.”
Before Pacey became a pilot with Rise Air, he was an EMT and the Deputy Fire Chief of La Ronge during the 2015 wildfires.
“(In) 2015, we saw it (the fire) coming, we were really well prepared,” he said. “It kind of just crept up on town, but never really showed up. This year it showed up with a vengeance, and the wind didn’t help. It was a beast.”
