06:55 PM EDT on Tuesday, May 2, 2006

You’re at home when the lights go out. You smell gas. You won't pull out your lighter to see, would you?

Now you have an idea why StatCare is taking no chances--because possible meth victims and choppers don't mix.

Virtually every day, one of StatCare's three choppers is in the air -- an injured man in Kentucky, a burned baby in Tennessee, a sick mother in Ohio. If they need the specialized help of Louisville’s hospitals, StatCare stands ready.

But all bets are off when it comes to airlifting suspected meth victims, whose clothes may be saturated with toxic and flammable fumes.

This past weekend's house explosion in Harrison County was an example, StatCare forced to back off taking them by air -- the burned victims were instead transported by ground and into a special plastic enclosed emergency room; the dangers posed by such possible meth contaminated too great.

By the way, regarding that Harrison County, Indiana house explosion: StatCare says it wasn't the only one that decided air transport would be too hazardous.

StatCare says authorities called a second air ambulance service. That service refused for the same reason.