Ever wonder what it takes to be part of a tactical rescue team, jumping into danger to rescue people at a moment's notice? WCCO's Laura Oakes found out.
On a gorgeous cool blue fall day, the Minnesota Air Rescue Team is practicing water rescues on Vadnais Lake, never knowing when they'll be called into duty for real.
"One call a week, maybe one call every other week," explains Jeremy Barta, a St. Paul Firefighter and member of MART. "Throughout the summer months, winter is a little slower. There's less people out, you know, doing things in remote areas during the winter. But summer and then in the fall as hunting season ramps up and people start hiking and exploring the, you know, fall colors. We get quite a few calls."
MART is a partnership between the St. Paul Fire Department and Minnesota State Patrol Aviation Division comprised of both agencies' best, brightest, and most highly-trained.
"It's a fairly elite program we have. So, St. Paul Fire has about 450 sworn personnel and there are 21 members on this team," Barta tells WCCO.
MART conducts rescue operations statewide, whether that's plucking a lost camper from the dark depths of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, or coming to the aid of someone who has fallen through thin ice. Basically, a lifeline for folks finding themselves in a dangerous situation.
"So we can use the helicopter to do a number of things, we can do search and rescue from the air and we do short haul extraction through a tree canopy in remote areas, things like that. You can also repel a rescuer out of the helicopter to the ground," he says.
When MART is called into action by a local law enforcement agency, it's funded by the state, and there is no charge to the county or city.
Barta says it's one of those jobs that runs on adrenaline, with no more rewarding feeling than having helped save someone's life.