Just as the sun was starting to set over Blacksburg on Thursday, a medical helicopter circled above Blacksburg High School as several dozen firefighters patiently waited for it to touch down in a school parking lot.

Fortunately, this was no medical emergency. Instead, firefighters were getting the opportunity for a close-up look at some new equipment and new faces as a new air ambulance service ramps up its efforts to help save lives.

Medcenter Air, a division of Carolinas HealthCare System, opened a new base of operations in Rock Hill last August and recently started offering 24-hour service out of Bryant Field.

Medcenter Air's Bell 430 helicopters are larger than the models used by Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. And although an official said it prefers not to, especially if injuries are critical, Medcenter Air can transport two patients at a time.

Firefighters from several eastern and northeastern Cherokee County fire departments were invited last Thursday for a ground school to get better acquainted with Medcenter Air equipment, personnel and requirements, since firefighters are charged with setting up emergency landing zones for the medical helicopters when they're needed. The helicopters are often called upon to touch down in fields, and on highways, and sometimes in even more narrow confines.

Firefighters in eastern Cherokee County get a close-up look at Medcenter Air's medical helicopter. The air ambulance service, which is a division of Carolinas HealthCare System, opened a new base of operations in York County, which gives it fast response times to the eastern side of Cherokee County. (Ledger photos / TIM GULLA) While it doesn't impact their ability, or inability as the case may be, to fly in inclement weather, Medcenter Air pilots fly at night with night vision goggles that intensify available light 25,000 times. Such devices help pilots better see obstacles and obstructions, like poles and tree branches, but also add new complexities for firefighters to think about.

Firefighters were asked, for instance, not to shine flashlights at the helicopters at night and they were advised they may be asked to turn off the strobe lights on their fire engines.

Before the Medcenter Air helicopter landed at Blacksburg High School to give firefighters a close-up look, Scott Prater, a flight respiratory therapist with Medcenter Air, held a refresher course with firefighters about the proper techniques for marking dangers, obstructions or wind direction, and the safest ways to approach the medical helicopter once it landed.

"Everybody comes in together, everybody goes out together," he said.

Though the York County base is fairly new, Medcenter Air helicopters have already made several landings in Cherokee County. They were used to shuttle shooting victims in two unrelated incidents to Charlotte Medical Center earlier this year.

Prater said the helicopter's goal is to get the patient to the closest appropriate facility, be it for trauma, cardiac problem or burns. The Medcenter Air base in Rock Hill is closer to the eastern side of Cherokee County than the base for the Regional One helicopter from Spartanburg, making Medcenter Air's response times faster in eastern Cherokee County.

Prater said Medcenter Air helicopters can operate within a 150-mile radius of their bases. Each chopper has a crew of three, including a pilot, a registered nurse, and a respiratory therapist. Four pilots are based out of Rock Hill, while others are based out of Charlotte and Morganton.

All of the pilots, Prater said, are ex-military and each has more than 3,000 flight hours of experience.

Firefighters from Blacksburg Volunteer Fire Department, CKC Volunteer Fire Department, Buffalo Volunteer Fire Department and Antioch Volunteer Fire Department attended the ground school.