Residents and officials in one Southern California city are pissed after a stupid act of vandalism had serious consequences for local life-saving efforts. San Bernardino County officials had to ground a rescue helicopter in Hesperia, California after vandals covered it in graffiti.
LA’s CBS News reports that the incident happened at Hesperia’s airport, where San Bernardino County stores a single rescue helicopter for emergencies. On the morning of October 20, vandals broke in and tagged up the chopper. Authorities assume it happened as airport crews were resting.
Both sides of the helicopter were completely covered in large, colorful graffiti, blocking over nearly all the windows. That meant the county had to ground the helicopter, a risky move as it’s the only one in the area and is often used in rescue operations that are sometimes over 40 miles away. Mercy Air, which operates the chopper on behalf of the county, said in a statement that they’re going to check the vehicle for additional damage just to be safe. Unfortunately, the grounding of the chopper has already had negative effects on response times in the area.
San Bernardino County Fire Department has already said that wait times for trauma patients will inevitably be increased because of the incident, and until it’s cleared for liftoff again, first responders will be left to rely on Mercy Air ships coming from another location.
“To thoroughly assess and restore the aircraft, we placed the Hesperia Air Medical Base out of service while our local team works diligently to remove the graffiti and inspect for any additional damage,” said a statement from Mercy Air. “In the meantime, we continue supporting Hesperia and the surrounding High Desert communities with our three other nearby Mercy Air bases.”
Many local residents say that because the area has so many bad accidents, grounding this chopper can literally mean life or death for anyone involved. One resident called what happened shameful. “ You never know. It could be them that something seriously bad happens to, but because they graffitied the helicopter, now they have to wait.” While the chopper has since been cleaned, county sheriffs say they’ll continue to look into who exactly is responsible for the graffiti, and Hesperia Airport officials say they’ll increase security so this doesn’t happen again.
