With westbound traffic on Interstate 80 routinely backing up for several hours each afternoon, the North Lyon County Fire Protection District has begun relying on rotor aircraft to transport critical patients to Reno hospitals during the afternoon.
“If it’s between 2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m., we’re now electing to use rotor aircraft because we can get them there quicker than the four-hour round trip,” Fire Chief Brian Bunn said.
The district began using air transport more regularly about three months ago and has been averaging about one flight every three days, Bunn said. The decision to fly is based on patient condition, traffic conditions and the ability to meet what emergency responders call the “golden hour,” the critical window for treating traumatic injuries and severe medical conditions.
Even under ideal conditions, the drive to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno takes about 45 minutes, but Bunn said multiple times it took up to two hours for the district’s ambulance to get to Renown and four hours to make the round trip.
While even under ideal circumstances a helicopter would be called for a critical priority one call, where a patient is in immediate danger of dying, the district is now using air transport during times of heavy traffic for less critical priority two calls.
“We struggle, even if traffic is clear, to meet that golden hour,” Bunn said. “We get on scene, we have to evaluate the patient. Sometimes it’s a load and go and we’ll throw them in the car in five minutes and do most of it en route, because we’re trying to get there in time.”
In June, the fire district’s Board of Directors approved a Memorandum of Understanding with Battle Born Medevac, which is based at South Lyon Medical Center in Yerington. Under the terms outlined in the MOU, Battle Born Medevac will automatically launch their helicopter when North Lyon Fire is dispatched to critical priority one medical calls unless it is already on another call.
If Battle Born Medevac is not available, then Lyon County dispatch will call Care Flight or REACH Air Medical Services, which is stationed at Stellar Aviation at the Reno–Tahoe Airport. There is no cost to Lyon County residents for air transport by Battle Born Medevac. In May, Battle Born Medevac announced a sponsorship in which SB Energy fully funded a membership for every resident of Lyon and Mineral counties for the next three years. The company said that means any medically necessary air transport is fully covered with zero out-of-pocket costs through May 31, 2029. That agreement does not apply to any other medical transport service.
In most cases, the patient is transported from the call site back to the station to meet the helicopter. The district has put in a windsock to help pilots judge wind conditions on the ground, and when possible, North Lyon firefighters spray the ground with water to keep the dust down.
“We try to bring them back here because it’s a safer place to land, unless it’s a really hot patient, then we’ll park them right in the street,” Bunn said.
The increased use of air transport comes at a cost for the fire district in the potential of lost revenue from ambulance transports, but Bunn said it is driven by urgency, not economics.
“We lose revenue by doing this, but as much as we need to be revenue driven to maintain operations, life comes before a dollar,” he said.
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