Commission: county to audit and update heli-landing-zone map after many sites deemed unusable

County staff told the Oconee County Fire Service Advisory Commission they will survey all mapped landing zones (LZs) to confirm which are still usable and will remove or replace LZs that are no longer viable.

Staff said the list of LZs identified about 15 years ago is much larger than the set currently in use and that some sites cannot be used now because of seasonal vegetation, obstructions or other conditions. “We really need to go out and identify if these things are still good, still viable, usable,” a staff member said.

GIS has been involved in renumbering LZs and forwarding updates to dispatch, but staff reported some of the revised numbers were not loaded into the CAD system. The commission discussed the practicalities: crews sometimes change planned LZs multiple times at a scene, and some LZs work only seasonally (for example, hay season vs. winter). Staff said they will visit each LZ over the coming months, coordinate with local departments, and, where necessary, identify alternate landing areas near unusable sites.

Staffors also noted occasional confusion from multiple overlapping LZ numbers and said some renumbering (for clarity between EMS and fire) has already been completed; the updates must be verified and uploaded to dispatch computer-aided dispatch (CAD) so responders see consistent LZ designations in the field.

The commission asked staff to notify departments before site visits in each area and to produce an updated LZ map when fieldwork is complete. No formal vote was taken; staff presented this as an operational plan that will be implemented over several months.