The Town of Cave Creek Public Works crew established a safe helicopter landing site for emergency incidents that occur in the Spur Cross Conservation Area.
They were able to use existing Town resources to grade, fill, level, and seal an already disturbed mine site location, just past the north end of the Spur Cross parking areas. Any potential hazards were removed from the immediate area.
This will now allow for all emergency medical responses and possible future fire incidents, to have a safe and dedicated location to land, load and/or unload people or materials when working on the trails in the Preserve, and the nearby Tonto National Forest, or the Cave Creek Regional Park. Should there be a need for a rescue via helicopter in that area in the future, the helicopter can land safely and away from any residential areas, in an area where no parking will be allowed.
“No Parking” signage will be installed soon, as well as a windsock to assist pilots with landings and take-offs.
Before any Town resources were used, actual on-site evaluations were conducted with the pilots from both the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Public Safety to get their input and approval.
The new approach and take-off routes will not have any major impacts on existing residential neighborhoods.
This will greatly reduce the need for future helicopter use and rescues to land on Spur Cross Road, or in other nearby residential areas.
The site is also large enough that the Town of Cave Creek will have future meetings with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, and the Tonto National Forest to evaluate the possible use of portable tanks during the high fire season, that could assist with water drops in the event of a wildfire in this important area.
The Town of Cave Creek Water Department is looking into the possibility of installing a fire hydrant that will be located on an existing Spur Cross Road dead-end water main, which would also be used to assist with fire operations in this area.
“This will have a major positive impact on future emergency incidents in this area of the community.”
