Capt. Albert Tempel of the Pauma Valley Community Services District stands in front of a new helicopter pad Wednesday named in his honor.
JAMIE SCOTT LYTLE
Capt. Albert Tempel cuts the ribbon Wednesday at the new Pauma Valley helicopter pad named in his honor located at the Pauma Valley Community Services District.
JAMIE SCOTT LYTLE
Mercy Air, Cal Fire and law enforcement officials stand Wednesday at the new Pauma Valley helicopter pad named in honor of Capt. Albert Tempel at the Pauma Valley Community Services District.
JAMIE SCOTT LYTLE
The new Pauma Valley helicopter pad named in the honor of Capt. Albert Tempel at the Pauma Valley Community Services District.
JAMIE SCOTT LYTLE
Long-celebrated for its stunning mountain setting, Pauma Valley is fast becoming known for something much less picturesque: deadly car crashes.
From January 2009 through Wednesday, there were 783 injury crashes and 31 fatalities on roads in Pauma Valley and the surrounding hamlets of Pala, Palomar Mountain, Valley Center and Rincon, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Starting this week, those seriously injured in crashes or stricken by a medical emergency in the remote area will have a faster option for reaching medical care.
A new medical flight helipad was dedicated Wednesday near the Pauma Valley Community Services District headquarters, along Cole Grade Road just south of Highway 76.
The helipad will allow Mercy Air helicopters to land in Pauma Valley and transport patients in eight minutes to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, about three times faster than ground ambulances, according to the district.
"It could save someone's life," said CHP Officer Tim Fenton, moments before a Mercy Air chopper touched down for the first time at the 50-foot-by-50 foot landing zone, with about two dozen residents and emergency officials watching.
"Time is critical," added Buzz Mills, who piloted the Mercy Air helicopter Wednesday. Mills said having an established helipad "probably saves a couple minutes" compared with searching for a safe spot to land on a highway or field.
Residents and law enforcement officials say Pauma Valley has been the scene of more traffic emergencies as casinos have expanded in the area. There's been a surge of drivers on the narrow, backcountry roads and added car wrecks, they said.
"We hear the sirens a lot," said Dave Sebastian, who said he's lived at the nearby Pauma Valley Country Club for 10 years. "(Having the helipad) raises the comfort level a little bit."
Steven Hamlin, the club's assistant manager, said the helipad will provide reassurance for club residents, many of whom are older and could face medical emergencies.
The landing zone is named Tempel Field, after the district's security captain Albert Tempel, who led the effort to build the helipad.
Tempel said he spent about $1,000 of the $2,500 set aside by the district on the helipad, noting much of the work and materials were donated by community members and local companies.
He said he will voluntarily maintain the T-shaped landing spot, made of decomposed granite and outlined by light-colored rocks.
Tempel said the helipad is one more way Pauma Valley, a town "in the middle of nowhere," functions as "a self-supporting city."
"Hopefully, we don't have to use it too much," the captain added.
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