I've been listening all afternoon to an online relay of NOPD scanner. They speak to each other in "north" and "west" GPS coordinates only. They say things like "two male, one elderly" "two females/one male, one dog" because they're describing the rooftop occupants. Then, I guess there must be faster pluck'em choppers, and then medical rescue choppers, which clearly take longer. The scanner has also been discussing an oil leak somewhere that's been ongoing for hours.
Those are the light scout copters that cannot pick up people (like the Miami Dade chopper that I mentioned earlier). They don't have the lift or equipment like a winch and they don't have the space to evac people. What's going on is classic military doctrine, adapted to SAR. Light scout craft locate the targets and move around quickly to locate all of them so people can plan, heavier and larger (and notably slower) craft move in to take care of them.
"I've been listening all afternoon to an online relay of NOPD scanner. They speak to each other in "north" and "west" GPS coordinates only. They say things like "two male, one elderly" "two females/one male, one dog" because they're describing the rooftop occupants. Then, I guess there must be faster pluck'em choppers, and then medical rescue choppers, which clearly take longer. The scanner has also been discussing an oil leak somewhere that's been ongoing for hours."
I was listening in the wee morning hours and heard about a chemical leak that everyone was being ordered to stay a mile away from. Another call in which an officer was at what sounded like a senior's home. Apparently, he had stumbled onto a job that was bigger than he could handle. It sounded like there was at least 50 people in the building, with nearly half in wheelchairs and unable to get out and be loaded onto the buses that were on the way. The last call I heard before taking a much needed power nap was about 2 officers surrounded and in need of assistance...I never heard the end of that call, it was going on for a bit and there was some confusion as to whether they were surrounded by people or water.