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Disaster Response Module
The Heli-Basket can rescue stranded people in a wide variety of situations: floods, sinking ships, capsized small craft, wildfire, and burning high-rise buildings.
Disaster Response Module
Bambi Bucket
Links to Other Websites FAA Regulations requiring emergency rescue equipment on airports next to bodies of water or wetlands Home Site Map Products Chemicals Mop-Up Structure Protection Contact Us Orders
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FAA
Regulations now require airports located next to bodies of water or marsh lands
to have emergency rescue equipment on hand with enough capacity to rescue people in a
timely manner.
PLI's Disaster Response Module has a Heli-Basket® ready-to-go. The Heli-Basket is carried as an external load under a helicopter and can be inserted at places where the helicopter cannot land.
The traditional helicopter rescue technique is to
winch victims up one at a time. In contrast, the Heli-Basket that is part of the Disaster Response Module can seat 8 persons secured by seat belts. 
In extreme emergencies the seats can be folded up and many more people can be carried at one time when they are standing up and holding on to the sturdy hand rails.
Rescuing
people from a plane that is about to sink is a situation where "time is of the
essence." (
There
are some disaster situations where a helicopter is the only means of rescue.
In the photo on the left a plane landed on a frozen lake, but
the ice was too soft to hold the weight of the plane or of any rescue vehicle.
The
Heli-Basket can rescue many more people stranded on rooftops during major floods
than traditional one-at-a-time helicopter rescues.
The
Heli-Basket can insert equipment, such as electric generators, lighting systems,
and water purification systems, at hurricane-devastated locations where a helicopter can not land.
The PLI Disaster Response Module consists of a custom-built trailer with a Heli-Basket that has built-in seats and a Bambi-Bucket. The Heli-Basket is ready for use and can be lifted off
the trailer by a helicopter. The trailer allows the Heli-Basket to be
towed to a location where helicopter operations will be conducted. The
Bambi-Bucket has its own storage box located on the front part of the trailer.
The
Bambi Bucket, which is part of the Disaster Response Module, is used for fighting fires. It can dump water on Class A fires, which do not have liquid hydrocarbon fuel. It can also be filled with AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam) foam from a ground-based foam generator for use on an aircraft fire. 
Planes crash and burn in swamps and other
wetlands beyond the reach of land-based fire-fighting equipment. Putting
the fire out in a timely manner can save lives, cargo, and equipment and in the
dry season may stop a fire from expanding to well beyond the aircraft. The
Bambi-Bucket can be filled from fresh water, brackish water, or sea water sources.
Even though New Orleans was flooded after Hurricane Katrina, buildings were burning due to ruptured gas lines, gasoline, and other hydrocarbon fuels. AFFF foam, used to fight such fires, can be carried in and dropped from a Bambi-Bucket.