Boy, 3, a hit with chopper crew
<p><strong>Weston Haun</strong>, 3, waves to the crew of a Sikorsky Skycrane on Wednesday as the helicopter gets water from the Clark Fork River for the firefighting effort on the Copper King Fire. (Bonnie Haun photo)</p>
<p><strong>Helicopter pilots</strong> stopped by at end of their shift Wednesday to say hello to Weston Haun, 3, who had been watching and waving to them all day while they dipped water out of the Clark Fork River to deliver over the Copper King Fire. From left are Trent Vick, Weston and his grandfather, Dean Haun, and Robert Fournier. (Bonnie Haun photo)</p>
Weston Haun really likes helicopters.
Watching from his grandmother’s house on the Clark Fork River, the 3-year-old boy from Thompson Falls recently got up-close views of a Sikorsky Skycrane battling the Copper King Fire.
His grandmother, Bonnie Haun, said Weston’s father is a Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation engine boss who has been working with a hotshot crew for the past two weeks on Montana’s largest fire.
His father, Jonathan Haun, has been out of contact for the past two weeks, and Bonnie said that Weston spent last Wednesday at her house waving at the helicopter crews as they would drop down to refill their buckets before heading back to the 24,000-acre wildfire burning east of Thompson Falls.
“Every time the helicopter was flying overhead, he was saying, ‘Daddy’s up there! They are heroes!’” Bonnie said. “He literally ran from the river’s edge to the front of the house all night long, just wearing himself out and so excited.”
That night, she said, she was giving Weston a bath when the doorbell rang.
It was a couple of helicopter pilots from the firefighting effort — Trent Vick and Robert Fournier from Oregon-based Helicopter Transport Services — who had noticed the little boy’s tireless display of enthusiasm.
“It was their last night of fighting this fire, and they were watching him from the sky and they just thought it was so cute,” Bonnie said, adding that they had to drive well out of their way after getting off their shift in Thompson Falls. “We were just so shocked. It was such a nice gesture that it really touched out hearts.”
The pilots told Weston that when they saw him running around, waving from below, it reminded them of when helicopters first piqued their interest.
“They both said when they were young ... they had similar experiences, and that’s what inspired them to become helicopter pilots today,” Bonnie said.
She said Weston hasn’t specifically communicated an interest in a career as a helicopter pilot, but noted that “he’s seriously been obsessed with them” since he caught his first glimpse of one grabbing water from the same spot for a wildfire two years ago.
On Thursday, Bonnie took to Facebook with the story, along with photos of her grandson waving to the aircraft from the water’s edge. Four days later, the post had more than 5,500 shares. Bonnie said she’s been getting private messages on the story from as far away as Switzerland.
Vick and Fournier brought Weston some stickers with the company logo and promised to mail him a hat. Although Bonnie said her grandson “went into shy mode” when the pilots showed up at the front door, it didn’t last long.
“After they left, he just jabbered all night about the ‘copter-copter,’ talked about them in his sleep,” she said. “I’ve been in contact with his mom, and she said he has not stopped talking about the helicopters.”
Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.