Medical helicopter crashes killing 4 in Calif.

Four people are dead in a helicopter crash between Fresno and Bakersfield, CA, according to a Fresno County official.

Pilot Thomas Hampl, Nurse Marco Lopez and Paramedic Kyle Juarez as well as the patient all died when the helicopter went down east of McFarland in Kern County Thursday night.

The helicopter was headed from Porterville Municipal Airport to San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield for a critical care patient transfer when it crashed.

The patient was being taken to San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield, it said.

Rescuers from Kern County’s fire department and sheriff’s office deployed to the location of the helicopter’s last known Global Positioning System signal and found a debris field near the town of McFarland.

Valeri said weather conditions are always a factor in such flights, but the crew would have checked the weather before lifting off.

“This was a safe, experienced crew”, he added.

Dense fog also made search efforts more hard; crews couldn’t find the crash site for more than two hours, the AP also reported.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will be investigating the crash, officials said. “They had been a team for quite some time”.

The helicopter debris will be removed Saturday afternoon and stored in Sacramento for further investigation.

The helicopter crashed in a remote area near Highway 65 in California. President Todd Valeri said there was a social gathering Saturday night at which nurses, EMTs and others would undoubtedly grieve the loss of their co-workers.

“Any crew member has the authority to ground the aircraft”, Valeri said.

The company transports about 1,000 patients per year from airports in Fresno and Visalia. It urged that all emergency medical service operations be conducted under the stricter requirements.

Share with Us – We’d love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article, and smart, constructive criticism.