Picture of the Week: Flight to safety

A Snohomish Sheriff Department helicopter transports several first responders with the Airborne Tactical Extraction Platform (AirTEP) at the Government Services Administration complex in Auburn on Monday.

August 1, 2012 7:45 pm
Firefighters and rescuers at work in the Auburn sky.
Firefighters and rescuers at work in the Auburn sky.

A Snohomish Sheriff Department helicopter transports several first responders with the Airborne Tactical Extraction Platform (AirTEP) at the Government Services Administration complex in Auburn on Monday.

The exercise was part of the Seattle Urban Areas Security Initiative preparation for large-scale disaster drill slated for multiple sites in South King County on Aug. 29.

The AirTEP is a 115-pound device that rescue choppers use to insert and extract up to 10 people.

The Valley Regional Fire Authority, King County Fire and Rescue, and the Maple Valley, Enumclaw, Kent and Tukwila fire departments participated in the drills.

SHAWN SKAGER, Auburn Reporter