Saturday March, 10 2012 @ 17:00 hrs.

Nature: Smoke Investigation – Delaware State Police Trooper #2 Aviation Unit

Address: Friendship Road off of Cannon Road - Millsboro, DE 19966

On Saturday afternoon, March 10th at approximately 17:00 hours, the Delaware State Police Aviation Unit (Trooper #2) encountered a smoke condition being emitted from a dense wooded area off of Friendship Road near Cannon Road in what is part of the Delaware’s forest land.

The wooded area is not easily accessible via fire apparatus and Trooper 2 was concerned with the quantity of smoke conditions prevalent.

Indian River's Fire Chief Steven Deery was consulted and offered an opportunity to fly over in Trooper 2 in order to evaluate the situation prior to alerting fire company resources, if necessary. Trooper #2 picked up Chief Deery in an adjacent field and performed an aerial review of the area and determined this incident to be recreational camp fire and no additional services or observations were needed.

As in many cases, the Delaware State Police Aviation Unit has discovered fires or areas of concern within the state’s protected forestry, farmland, marshland, and other hard to access areas and have assisted with the containment and evaluation exercises as well.

Additionally, the pilot of Trooper #2 was Shawn Wright. Shawn is a well established Delaware State Police Pilot and police officer; however, Shawn initiated his firefighter career as a member of the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company and is familiar with the area.

This is just another example of the Delaware State Police and the Delaware fire service collaborating to accomplish the common good for the residents of the State of Delaware.