Thanks to the community, the Sonoita-Elgin Fire District Auction was a stellar success again this year. Over 200 people attended the event, raising over 40,000 dollars for emergency services. Better still, all of the food, drinks and supplies for the auction were donated too. Generous benefactors continued to set the standard for items auctioned—like art work, helicopter rides, jewelry, and vacation packages.
Additionally, Chief McKendrick from Tucson Fire donated a lightweight piercing nozzle to the Fire District. This nozzle allows firefighters to pierce a wall or ceiling to suppress a fire without the firefighter entering the structure. Suppressing fire this way is safer in certain types of fires such as a fire in a recreational vehicle. The donation saved the district 1000 dollars.
Several notable people attended, including Ron Barber (representing the office of Gabriele Giffords), John Maynard (Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors), the Honorable Mary Helen Maley (Judge, Santa Cruz County), Jennifer Burns (Arizona State Representative), Valerie Scanlan (running for for Santa Cruz County Recorder), and Doug Sposito (running for Arizona State House of Representatives).

On Thursday, January 10 the crew from "Scarlet Cross," a prequel to the 1969 "Easy Rider" stopped in to use our landing zone. The helicopter film crew used SEFD's pad between shots. They flew at low altitude, hugging the ground and filmed chase scenes on Highway 82 and Highway 83. The day was perfect for filming with our beautiful local scenery as a backdrop. Look for the film to be out later this year.

Sunday evening (January 6th) a motorcyclist lost control and went off the road a milepost 44, Highway 83. Border Patrol EMT personnel were on scene first and attempted the treat the rider. SEFD arrived on scene shortly after and set up incident command, traffic control, landing zone control, and medical control. Tubac ambulance personnel and SEFD personnel performed prehospital interventions and prepped the rider for airlift. The motorcyle was found about 40 feet off the roadway under a mesquite tree. (This curve on Highway 83 is one of the most dangerous curves in the state.) Lifenet landed a little north of the scene and Tubac relocated the rider to that location in the ambulance. The rider was airlifted to a Tucson hospital for care.

9 SEFD personnel responded:

At just about midnight on Saturday, January 5th, a van with five passengers rolled and flipped. The vehicle appeared to be going eastbound on Highway 82 and lost control at about milepost 41, coming to rest on the driver's side, facing westbound. The vehicle was about 20 feet off the opposing lane's shoulder. Four of the passengers (3 adults and 1 child) had relatively minor injuries and were treated by Border Patrol EMT personnel, prepared for transport by SEFD personnel and Tubac and Whetstone ambulance personnel and then transported by ground. The driver was extricated from the vehicle by SEFD personnel with assistance from Tubac and Border Patrol personnel. The extrication team stabilized the vehicle to prevent further rollover, entered through the back door of the van, cut the seats out of the way, carefully placed and secured the driver on a long spine board, and then moved the patient to a Lifenet helicopter for air transport. The teams worked together to provide prehospital interventions before the helicopter lifted off.

9 SEFD personnel responded: