Deputy Noah Brommeland straps himself into the helicopter. He is navigating the pilot to the schools to be photographed.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Stanford chips in a helicopter for sheriffs to take aerial shots
Improved emergency preparations for schools is the goal of the project
By Leigh Ann Maze
Stanford Life Flight helicopter pilot Everett Croes heard something on the radio on April 17, to confirm that what he was doing was worthwhile. Croes, a Saratogan, heard an interviewee say that in retrospect, aerial photographs would have been useful to those who responded to the Columbine High School shooting.
The next day the Stanford Life Flight helicopter lifted off from Moffett Field with Croes in the pilot seat, just two days shy of the one-year anniversary of the Columbine tragedy. Deputy Noah Brommeland of the Sheriff's Office Westside Substation in Saratoga and flight nurses Robert Nieblas and Leanne Perez were also onboard.
Their mission: to take aerial photographs of the 32 schools within the Westside Substation's jurisdiction, including 11 schools in Saratoga, 16 in Cupertino, three in Los Altos and two in the unincorporated areas of Los Gatos. Brommeland took digital photographs while Nieblas used a camera loaded with film.
Normally, the Stanford Life Flight helicopter is used to transport patients from emergency scenes to the nearest trauma center. The custom-configured BK 117 also is used to transport critically ill patients from one hospital to another. Overall, the $4 million machine makes from 500 to 600 flights per year.
A short distance flight would normally cost a patient $3,000 to $5,000, but the flight was entirely donated by Stanford Health Services to the sheriff's office.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Preparing to board the Life Flight helicopter are (from left) sheriff's deputy Noah Brommeland of the Westside Substation, flight nurses Leanne Perez and Robert Nieblas and pilot Everett Croes of Saratoga.
The aerial photographs will be used in the School Site Survey that Brommeland and Sgt. Nick Perusina at the Westside Substation are developing. The first-of-its-kind computer program will assist department personnel in responding to school emergencies. The School Site Survey includes pertinent information about each of the 32 schools, including maps, photographs, utilities locations, important names and phone numbers, and staging locations for paramedics, fire units and emergency operations centers, among other details.
The information is stored on a CD-ROM and operates like a website on an Internet browser. A hard-copy version of the School Site Survey is kept in a binder.
Brommeland and Perusina have been working on the project since November. As soon as the aerial photographs are added during the next week, the School Site Survey will be complete, Brommeland said. It will be revised frequently.
The Sheriff's Office already has given a copy of the School Site Survey to the Morgan Hill and Gilroy Police Departments. The Redwood City Police Department is interested as well, said Capt. Jeff Miles of the Westside Substation.
Stanford Life Flight became involved with the School Site Survey when Brommeland approached Saratoga Public Safety Commissioner Thomas Edel, who works in protective services at NASA, and sought help taking aerial photographs. Although NASA wanted to help out, legal hurdles prevented them from doing so in a timely manner. However, Edel, who lives in Saratoga, mentioned the situation to his neighbor, Everett Croes, while their dogs were playing together in his yard.
Two weeks later Croes and Brommeland were in the air above Saratoga taking photographs.
"We could have done it commercially, however, it would have cost us a lot of money," Miles said. "Stanford did a tremendous thing not only for the Sheriff's Office but for the community, as well."
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Deputy Noah Brommeland straps on his helmet while pilot Everett Croes checks in with the home base.
According to Croes, it was a win-win situation. "We thought it would be great to help the Sheriff's Office. At the same time, if an incident ever occurred at a school we would be more prepared to go in and land because they would have aerial photographs available," Croes said.
The radio story Croes overheard before the flight was about a state program that bears an uncanny resemblance to the Sheriff's Office School Site Survey. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin unveiled their Crisis Response Box Program on April 17, in Sacramento. It was developed with the same goals as the School Site Survey--to create a comprehensive program containing information that might be needed in a school emergency.
A Crisis Response Box booklet will be sent to each of California's 8,000 schools next month to help them prepare for man-made or natural disasters. The booklet asks school officials to gather information together in a box, including master keys, maps, utility locations, school blueprints, local law enforcement contacts, student and teacher rosters and, of course, aerial photographs.
When the Crisis Response Box booklets arrive at Saratoga schools next month, however, the Sheriff's Office will be way ahead of them because Brommeland and Perusina will have already completed the School Site Survey.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
