Air Ambulance Plan Can’t Be Declared Dead : Services: Residents’ opposition to a heliport all but killed the proposal last week. But strong support from fire commissioners may revive it.

A controversial proposal to establish a 24-hour air ambulance service in the Hollywood Hills, considered all but dead just a week ago, may move forward after all because of strong support from the city of Los Angeles Board of Fire Commissioners.

Fire Department officials recommended at a board meeting late last week that the commissioners abandon the $3.4-million proposal because of neighborhood opposition and criticism from the county Department of Health Services, which oversees emergency medical care countywide.

Several commissioners, however, said they were not inclined to give up. Although they put off a formal vote until this week, a majority of the five-member board indicated that they favored pursuing the service.

“We have an obligation to take a stand as a commission that this is in the best interest of the public in terms of delivering lifesaving care,” Commissioner Carl R. Terzian said. “That is our job. . . . Even if we go down, excuse the pun, in flames before a city commission, or council or homeowners group, we ought to take a stand that what we believe is in the best interest of the safety of the public.”

Some Hollywood Hills residents have complained that the helicopter service, which would be based on Mt. Lee above the “Hollywood” sign, would be too noisy and create a “mini-LAX” in their neighborhood. County officials, meanwhile, have said that they fear the service would overburden the region’s troubled trauma-care network.

Fire Department officials said they proposed the service, which would include the purchase of a $2.6-million helicopter, to provide better care for victims of violent crimes and car accidents in metropolitan Los Angeles. The department currently responds to trauma calls with firefighting aircraft based at Van Nuys Airport, which limits most responses to the San Fernando Valley.

“We went in there thinking it was a motherhood and apple pie issue,” Deputy Chief C. G. Drummond told the board Thursday. “But it didn’t turn out to be that way.”

The Hollywoodland Homeowners Assn., whose members live directly below Mt. Lee, has criticized the proposal since its unveiling at a community meeting last month. Although other residents--including members of the neighboring Lake Hollywood homeowners group--have expressed cautious support for the idea, opponents have far outnumbered supporters at public meetings.

Deputy Chief Donald Anthony, chief architect of the proposal, warned the commissioners that community concerns about a round-the-clock heliport could force the department to conduct a lengthy environmental review of the project. He said that even a decision to pursue the proposal will not ensure its success.

“Overall, it appears we are up against very stiff opposition,” Anthony said. “The bottom line is when you come up against it, when the wall starts to get thicker and thicker, you wonder if you are going to keep butting your head into the wall. Is it worth the adversity that may be developed in the community?” But several fire commissioners questioned whether the concerns of the homeowners outweighed potential benefits.

“The benefactors of this air ambulance are not an organized group,” Commissioner Kenneth S. Washington said. “The whole of the city south of the Santa Monica Mountains is a benefactor. . . . Somebody has to decide . . . whether or not the benefactors with no voice are as important, or more important, in this issue than the organized, highly vocal group.”

Commissioner James E. Blancarte referred to complaining homeowners as special interest opposition and said they should prepare to yield to the greater good of the ambulance service.

“Let’s go forward,” Blancarte urged his colleagues.