Transcript of Operation Helo: How Civilians Led Relief After Hurricane Helene | 12.26.24

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, a group of civilians mounted an unprecedented helicopter rescue mission that ended up eclipsing the government efforts in the region. To be honest, we expected to get what? 10, 15 helicopters? I expected time.

In this episode, we talk to the co founder of the effort about how the mission was pulled off, as well as their ongoing efforts.

We had over 100 helicopters. We started running missions Monday morning, getting aid and medicine, doing well checks, and even eggs fills.

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief, John Bickley. It's December 26th, and this is a special edition of Morning Wire.

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Joining us to discuss the Harrowing rescue mission is Operation Hilo co founder Eric Robertson. Eric, thanks so much for coming on.

Absolutely. I appreciate you having us.

Tell us about this mission that you and some colleagues took on to help people in North Carolina.

Initially, after Hurricane Helene, we're probably, I would say, two hours east of that area. We heard about the devastation coming out of the mountains. A friend of ours, Doug Jackson from Operation Airdrop, who uses fixed wings airplanes to respond to natural disasters. He called up and said, Hey, how can we help? So they came here to North Carolina. We all met as a group and determined that due to the area of operation, airplanes were not going to be effective for that mission. So we put the call out. We are in the aviation industry. We put the call out to a bunch of friends asking for helicopters to where we could go into the challenge LZs, drop off aid, pick up people, do search and rescue, that type thing. So that was Sunday after the storm. Monday morning, we started flying aid missions, and again, search and rescue, wellness checks. We thought that we would have maybe 10 helicopters, 15 helicopters. When it was all said and done, we had 100 helicopters running missions for a two-week span. That's how we came to be. That's how Operation Hilo started. It was the response to get aid, search and rescue, do wellness checks in the area after Hurricane Helene.

Was Operation Hilo the only helicopter operation going on at that time, or was the government also doing a parallel operation?

We did run into some National Guard assets, not very many. We were by far the largest organization providing aid. Again, we had over 100 helicopters. When it was all said and done, the National National Guard, actually came to us and started flying missions for us. Both of my co founder and I were both prior military, so we ran this like a military operation. So when it was all said and done, like I said, the National Guard came in, FEMA came in, the state came in and the FAA came in, and every single one of them gave us their blessing, but also started running missions for us, which was really cool to see what it was all said and done.

Now, who was involved? Where did those 100 helicopters come from and who were the people participating?

Sure, yeah. It was private aviators from all around the country. We had people that showed up from Oregon, from Wyoming, from Montana, from Maryland, you name it. Aviators with helicopters answered the call that wanted to come be a part of the mission. They were literally from all over the country, privately owned and funded helicopters.

Wow. Were most of those pilots former military, or was it a mix of civilians, too?

It was an eclectic mix. You have people that use their helicopters on their ranch to herd cattle. You had prior military guys. You had guys that just had their helicopter for fun. When we were running these missions, and it's a testament to the aviators, we didn't have a single safety incident at all. Wow. With over 4,000 missions that we ran. So they were great aviators that answered the call.

That's incredible. Now, tell us about some of the really notable rescues. I'm very ignorant about helicopters, so it's hard for me to even imagine. Do you land on on someone's property to bring them things, or how does it work?

Initially, we had to forge new landing zones. We would take prior military, also some military Special Forces guys, 82nd guys that were simply there one leave, volunteering. We would drop them in and they would forge landing zones for us, and they would go out and scout the area. Once we had that done, we understood where the aid needed to go. So, yes, sometimes it would be we would land directly on someone's property. If we would get a call into the call center, for example, of somebody looking for Anne Nancy and hadn't talked to Anne Nancy in seven days, they would give us her address. We would turn it into coordinates that we could hand our pilots. We would scout the landing zone, make sure it was accessible, drop in, make sure Anne Nancy was okay, and get her some food and relief. If she wanted to come out, we'd take her out. There was one that really stood out to me, and it really speaks to the devastation in the area. This was a thousand your store. And there was two actually personal friends that flew into an area in Burnsville, landed on the road, and there was an elderly couple sitting in front of a store.

That store, you could see on the second level where the watermark was. So it was, again, that water was up past the second level of that store. That store had been in the family for over 100 years. They were sitting out in front of the store, and my buddy Brad Wambles He approached them and said, Hey, guys, what do you need? Can we get you out of here? Can we evacuate you? They said that they could not. They weren't leaving, that their grandson was still stuck in the rafters He had obviously passed. He had drowned in the flood, and they were standing guard. They said, We're not leaving until he leaves. That's not exactly a rescue mission. But that speaks to what we were dealing with in the first week or two after the storm. Wow.

It seems like it would be very challenging to actually search for people from the air. How would you find and identify the people who needed help?

There is a bunch of different ways that we would go about doing search and rescue, obviously. Oftentimes, be people standing outside, they would be waving. Other times it would be that someone hasn't spoken to or seen or heard their loved one in a week or so, so we would go in and check on them. At that point, they would most likely want to come with us just because we could get them to safety, we could get them out of the cold, we could get them food, shelter, water, and all that. We evacuated a nursing home and it had 159 elderly people in it. We get the call that they have no power, they have no water. They've been stuck in there for six days. We actually grabbed a National Guard asset, a Chinook, and took that in and grabbed the 159 people over a couple of trips. It varies in how we were able to get the people out. But at the end of the day, we ended up rescuing or XFilling, 439 people throughout the course of the mission.

Wow. Have you stayed in touch with some of these pilots about perhaps being ready for a future storm, or was this just a one-off project?

We learned throughout the evolution of the mission there in Hickory while we were flying that we just had such amazing volunteers. Ashley DeHon, who ran a lot of our vetting and processing. Tommy Daniel, who did a lot of the technology. When We've had all these people that came together, we learned that we were really good at it. Like I said, the FAA came in, and each time, I think they were going to try to shut us down, but they saw how safe we were and that we had tabs on all of our assets, both on the ground and in the air in real-time. So moving forward, yes, we do have a database. We do have a plan to have vetted pilots to where we can respond going forward to any natural disaster. We also learned that we had In a private organization, we can be nimble. We can respond to needs very quickly, like in the days after the storm, once the road started opening up and the need for helicopters went away, we pivoted and we then began to provide campers for people that had been displaced throughout the flood and that had lost everything.

That's a testament to us being able to be nimble and just respond to the needs of the people.

Well, you're obviously making a huge difference parents. Here's just one of hundreds of families reacting to their new camper. Oh, wow. Look at that.

Oh, wow. Look at that. That's Natasha.

She's our little Earth angel from Operation Helo.

Thank you, Operation Helo.

Tell me a little more about the campers. How many are deployed now and where did they come from and how long How long have they been in use?

Sure. Like I said, I'd say probably two weeks after the storm, the helicopter mission went away, but we knew the devastation. We had been boots on the ground. We had seen it all. We knew what people were dealing with. We knew not only did people lose houses and cars, but they lost loved ones often. Sometimes the river claimed people's property where it was 100 feet wide, it's now 400 feet wide. So we immediately pivoted. We knew the Indeed, we knew that people were homeless. We knew people were sleeping in tents and in cars, and one man was even sleeping in a cave. So at that point, we just put the word on that we're going to start buying and distributing campers to the people as temporary shelter. And so to date, we have delivered 162 campers to 162 families. We'd have 10 more on the books. It'll be going out towards the end. They're going to be going out tomorrow or the first of next week. And then we have probably another 20 behind that. So that's what we've been up to after the flood, is providing temporary shelter for people that have lost everything.

Wow. And are those people able to live in those campers all winter if they have to?

Yeah. So our main goal was to get them in a bed somewhere warm where they could take a shower, use a bathroom, cook, and get as back to normal as they possibly could in these circumstances. Each camper we've learned goes through about a bottle of propane every 4-6 days. We have committed and we have set aside funds to where we are going to make sure that the people that are in the campers that we've distributed have the opportunity to stay warm. We made a deal locally with Blossomans, a propane distributor in the area, to where they can go to Blossomans, get propane for their camper at no cost to them. That was twofold. It keeps them warm. We're also putting the funding back into the area. That's been our strategy. Anytime we can buy a local or put money back into the area, we've done so.

How about the rebuilding? Have they made even a dent, or is it still just complete devastation?

It is complete devastation still. I think they just yesterday got the building codes lifted to where people can start to possibly live in tiny houses or sheds. A lot of those were not passing code. That's why we It's not like the campers were the best option for temporary shelter. But now that the camper mission is winding down, we're now pivoting again, seeing what's next. Our next evolution, I guess you'd say, is to now start supplying building materials to where we can be a part of the long-term permanent buildback effort.

Now, do you have a 501(C)(3) that you're collecting donations to?

We do. It's Operation Hilo. Incorporated. We are a 501(C)(3). Operationhilo. Org is where people can go. But, yes, we are officially a 501(C)(3).

All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on and telling us about this amazing mission.

Thank you, guys.

That was Eric Robertson, founder of Operation Hilo. And this has been a special edition of MorningWire.

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