Air Ambulance Plan Is Shot Down by Opposition

The chief advocate of a 24-hour air ambulance service in the Hollywood Hills, disappointed and discouraged by reaction to his $3.4-million proposal, is expected to recommend next week that the Los Angeles City Fire Department abandon the idea.

“If you try to help somebody, and they poke you in the nose for it, you stop and say, ‘Hey, I am on your side,’ ” Deputy Chief Donald Anthony, who heads the department’s Fire Suppression and Rescue Bureau, said in an interview. “We are getting beat up, so to speak, for trying to improve the level of care of citizens between the scene of the incident and the hospital.”

Fire officials said they proposed the service--which would include purchase of a $2.6-million medical helicopter--to provide better care for victims of violent crimes and car accidents in metropolitan Los Angeles. The department currently responds to trauma calls with firefighting aircraft based at Van Nuys Airport, which limits most responses to the San Fernando Valley.

“We have the responsibility to provide the best level of service that we can to the entire city, not just a single area,” Anthony said at a hearing Monday on a department request to operate from Mt. Lee, above the Hollywood sign. “We see it as a centralized location.”

Although county health officials have not formally reviewed the proposal, they have said that they fear a centralized helicopter service would overburden an already beleaguered trauma-care system by flooding member hospitals with faraway patients.

“A decision involving transporting trauma patients affects the whole system,” said Barbara Pavey, head of operations and monitoring for the county trauma-care agency. “Our view has to be broad and global. We can’t look at it narrowly.”

Some Hollywood Hills homeowners also applauded Anthony’s decision.

“If they want to get closer to these serious traumas that require high-speed action, they should look at where they are occurring,” said Chuck Welch, head of the Hollywoodland Homeowners Assn. helicopter committee. “They are not occurring on Mt. Lee. It is in the South-Central area where they are stabbing and shooting people every weekend.”

Anthony, who had shepherded the air ambulance proposal through a variety of approvals over the last seven months, said he informed Fire Chief Donald O. Manning of his decision shortly after the hearing on Monday. The hearing was dominated by critics of the proposal, including homeowners and county officials.

Anthony said Manning made no decision on his recommendation, but asked for a written report. Manning was out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment.

Some residents who support the proposal expressed disappointment.

“I think they should stick to their guns,” said Andrew Ettinger, chairman of the Lake Hollywood Homeowners Assn. safety committee. “Anything we can do to live in a safer and more secure world is a good idea.”