JEFFCO'S EMERGENCY RESPONDERS
ARE READY FOR ANYTHING 
(EVEN BEARS)

The Jefferson County Airport doesn't boast the occasional mountain lion 
or black bear of the Mesa Lab environs.  But the Research Aviation Facility 
looks beyond Jeffco in carrying out its mission.  RAF's flights take its staff, 
as well as other researchers, all over the world.  The Medical Emergency 
Response Team (MERT) at Jeffco thus has more than the usual set of 
emergencies to consider.

"We try to have a team member on each flight or at each field program in 
case a problem arises," says Bill Irwin, an electronic technician with RAF 
and the coordinator of the Jeffco MERT team.  Each of the largest UCAR 
sites--the Mesa Lab, Foothills Lab, and Jeffco--has a MERT team (formerly 
named First Response) to serve as a point of contact for medical 
emergencies.  At ML and FL, staff are encouraged to dial 1-911 to activate 
the system.  At Jeffco, people in an emergency situation should locate a 
MERT team member immediately, who will call for external assistance if 
required.  Staff at the UNAVCO and UCAR North sites should dial 9-911 
for external emergency service.

The Jeffco team, formed this year, has yet to encounter a major emergency.  
But their goal of being prepared for one gives them some unique 
challenges.  In September, the Lockheed EC-130Q Hercules, acquired by 
NSF last year and housed at Jeffco, will take its first voyage for UCAR 
under the direction of RAF project manager Bruce Morley and assistant 
project manager Julie Haggerty.  The journey to offshore Alaska, in 
conjunction with the University of Colorado at Boulder, will be for BASE, 
the Beaufort Arctic Seas Experiment.  BASE is studying the ocean-air 
interface of the Beaufort Sea during its transition from the open waters of 
summer to its iced-over state.  Pilots Lowell Genzlinger and Mike Heiting 
will fly the EC-130 as low as 100 meters collecting data.

"There are a lot of rules and regulations for flying over the Arctic," says 
Bill.  "We need to have survival kits, rations for three days, and a bear 
rifle."  If you're interested in helping keep staff safe from risks--Ursus 
horribilis or otherwise--contact Health, Environment, and Safety Services 
(ext. 8555) about joining one of the MERT teams.  --BH