Maricopa County Sheriff’s rescue team preps for monsoon season

PHOENIX — The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office aviation unit rescue team tuned up for water rescues Friday morning at the hangar at the Central Arizona Project.

Water rescues are among the biggest challenges the crew faces every summer.

People who drive into flooded washes and roadways and risk their lives and the crews that are called in to save them.

Chief pilot Kevin Kraanyenbrink has carried out a number of rescues in his career.

Drivers who steer their cars into water has been one of the most frustrating things rescue crews deal with.

(KTAR Photo/Jim Cross)

“We have firefighters on the shoreline, people on our aircraft along with deputies who get there sooner to try and rescue them from the vehicle getting swept away. It’s absolutely unnecessary.”

Deputy Andy Bahn is a technical flight officer and he too has been part of many water saves — three in one night last year.

Night rescues have been the toughest.

“It’s raining, the conditions are unpredictable,” he said.

“People are unpredictable because they see us coming in and they always want to jump. That’s the worst thing they can do is jump at a helicopter.”

If anyone gets stranded because they drove around barricades and entered a flooded stretch of roadway, he or she can be charged for the cost of the rescue.

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