Deb's Search and Rescue Stories

Being a Backer -- A Search Near Wapatki

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:48:26 PST

View of the San Francisco Peaks from Wapatki National Monument

The first call-out happened not long after I'd gone to bed. It was sleeting, and the roads were icy. Earlier that evening, I'd been reading online about lots of accidents in the area, and I knew my car was not adequate for driving in those conditions. So I decided to stay home. That's never an easy decision for me.

At 5:45 the next morning, another call-out came through for a second operational period. The missing person hadn't been located during the hasty search overnight. Knowing I really didn't want to miss another call, my boyfriend kindly offered to drive me to the SAR building in his truck. Good thing, because the roads were still very icy.

As I was getting ready for this winter weather mission, my phone rang again. It was our K9 handler, Cindy, asking if I'd be her backer as I've done a number of times now. I didn't hesitate. I really enjoy working with Cindy and her dogs. We'd meet at the SAR building and head out to the search area as quickly as possible--before the rest of the team--to get a head start, to let the dogs search before there were others in the area.

When I'm backing the K9 team, I'm responsible for navigation and radio communication, while I help Cindy keep an eye on the dogs (she often uses all three of her search dogs at the same time) and doing my own searching. I also help Cindy decide the best way to search our assigned area. Sometimes, the Incident Commander asks us what we think the best area and search strategy would be, so we put our heads together and hash out the ideas, taking into account wind direction (related to the dogs' ability to scent a subject), terrain, and what we know about the missing person's actions and the point last seen (PLS).

In this case, we were searching for a missing woodcutter. He'd disappeared around 4:30pm the day before, walking away from his two companions during very cold and windy conditions. It had gotten even colder with precipitation overnight. The other two men, who hadn't seen their friend's direction of travel when he wandered away, stayed in the area for a while, searching, then left and called for assistance.

So we knew basically where to begin--the general area along a Forest Service road on BLM land, just outside of Wapatki National Monument--but not a specific point. No footprints had been found by trackers during the hasty search overnight, so still no direction of travel had been determined. The area is mostly cinder-covered with lots of pinon pine and juniper (much more than what's shown in the photo above). Cindy and I noted that our own footprints were very clear in the cinders, so we knew that the subject's would be as well.

Cindy tested the wind direction with her little bottle of baby powder. She does this frequently as we search with the dogs, since wind direction can change quickly. We also discussed where to search and what to use as boundaries in this mostly very open area. (We noted power lines both on the map and in the field, along with two-track roads we could use. We would also use random GPS coordinates to create the area for our grid search.) At this point, given what we knew, we agreed that walking tight grids would be best ... in case the subject were unresponsive (ie. due to hypothermia or worse).

As we were getting our packs together and putting the harnesses with GPSes on the dogs, word came in over the radio that the missing subject had JUST called a family member on his cell phone, saying he was very cold and trying to walk towards Wapatki Road. He was alive! Unfortunately, the phone call was dropped and no further contact had been made. Cell service was very sketchy out there, and I had none at all.

Wapatki Road surrounds the area in a big loop. So the subject could have been walking in any direction towards this "catch feature." And we still had no idea where he was, so his distance from the road could potentially have been a very long way. But now that we knew he was alive AND moving, Cindy and I agreed to make our grid passes with the dogs much wider.

Based on wind direction and given the area the DPS helicopter had been flying over as we'd been en route and getting ready, we decided on the area we'd search. We got moving at a pretty good clip, the dogs running and weaving, working excitedly. Cindy and I called and whistled for the subject as we watched the dogs for any sign they were working scent.

I glanced at my GPS now and then, to make sure we were making fairly parallel grids, letting Cindy know if she should angle a bit more to the left or right. I stayed a bit behind her and several paces to her side, keeping downwind of the dogs so my scent wouldn't interfere. I also let Cindy know when it was time to turn around for the next pass.

After about two hours of searching in long, wide grids and yelling and whistling, I called in to base. We'd not heard any radio traffic for a long while. Had any additional contact been made with the subject? Were the other searchers in the area yet?

As a matter of fact, the reply was: "The subject has been located. You can return to base."

It was a lengthy walk from our current location back to our vehicle, and I now noticed how tiring walking on cinders was. (I don't notice fatigue as much when I'm actually searching.) The dogs, though, were still full of energy and still searching for human scent on the way back. To them, it's all a fun game.

When we met back up with IC, we learned that the subject had been found along a Forest Service road (not paved Wapatki Road) a good distance away from the area we'd been searching and in a direction the dogs could not have detected his scent on the wind. Still, we felt we'd done the best we could and made a good strategy decision based on what we'd known--which wasn't much--when we'd begun searching. We were glad we'd had a chance to work together again.

Recent SAR Activity

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:00:18 PST

I haven't posted in awhile, but that's not for lack of SAR activity. Although it's been slower than last year at this time when it comes to call-outs, there have been missions lately. It's just that, unfortunately for a writer-type like me, there have been a couple of recent missions I've participated in that I'm not able to write about due to their ongoing and, you might say, legally sensitive nature.

BUT ... I can tell you about a few other missions, none of which I've been able to respond to myself. Two of those calls happened Wednesday, as I sat here with a nasty head cold and sore throat. Woe is me. So, my teammates filled me in....

A Bitter Cold Search on the North Rim

This search occurred a few days before Christmas. The call out, which came at 3am, was about a track hoe driver who didn't return from moving his machine from one area to another near the North Rim of Grand Canyon. Searchers towed the team's snowcat and four snowmobiles a few hours from Flagstaff to Jacob Lake and then another 20 miles toward the Grand Canyon on Highway 67. They stopped at a side road the missing subject was reportedly on and sent in the 'cat with the snowmobiles on standby. In about a mile, the 'cat found the track hoe with the driver inside - cold but otherwise in good shape. He had gotten low on fuel and stopped after midnight.

SAR volunteers were then told two of the subject's fellow employees had taken a Jeep to go look for him, so when the DPS helicopter arrived on scene, our Coordinator directed the aircraft to look for their vehicle. The crew spotted the unoccupied vehicle and one subject a few miles away, walking toward the track hoe, so SAR volunteers in the snowcat went back in and picked him up. Turns out, he was the only one in the Jeep. It was bitterly cold out there - below zero with the wind chill - so searchers were glad to wrap things up.

A Joint Search for a Missing Hiker in Yavapai County

At 6am on the morning of Wednesday, December 28th, our technical/mountain rescue team was called to assist the Yavapai County team with a search for an overdue 21-year-old hiker, last seen on Tuesday at around noon in steep, rugged terrain near the Village of Oak Creek.

That hiker was Mahdi Harrizi, visiting the area with his family from New York. Mahdi's mother called for help at about 4pm on Tuesday, after her son called her on his cell phone, saying he was stranded on a ledge near Castle Rock. According to reports, Mahdi had taken a trail from behind the resort where they were staying. At the time his mother made the call to authorities, she had been able to see him up at the top of the mountain.

Searchers from Yavapai County arrived on scene soon after, just as the sun was setting, but Sheriff's Deputies were unable to get a GPS coordinate on Mahdi's cell phone because of the remote location. Ground searchers and a Department of Public Safety helicopter crew looked for Mahdi through the night and then called Coconino County SAR for assistance.

From what I heard, just after the DPS helicopter dropped off more technical rescue SAR members at the top of the mountain at about 11:15am on Wednesday and were flying off, the crew spotted Mahdi's body between a sheer cliff and some shrubs. Sheriff’s officials stated that Harrizi apparently fell about 150 feet, and he may have fallen shortly after his conversation with his mother.

Here are a couple of photos submitted by one of my teammates who was at the top of the mountain....

Read: Hiker Killed in 150-Foot Fall

From One Mission to Another

At 4pm on the 28th, we received another call-out. This was another mission down in Sedona, for a stranded climber. Additional technical rescue team members as well as General SAR were asked to respond, to assist the other tech team members already en route from the day's first mission to the next.

I don't yet have any details about what happened, but I'll fill in you once I do.

And now that I'm just about over this creeping crud I've had for several days, I've got my SAR gear ready to respond if ... well, when ... we get another call.

******
Looking for other Search and Rescue blogs to read? I've put together a pretty long list of them here. And please let me know if I've missed any others.

Coconino County Sheriff's SAR Celebrates It's New Home with a Grand Opening

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:38:12 PST

On Saturday, December 10th, a gathering of Search and Rescue volunteers, Sheriff's Office personnel, folks from the Department of Public Safety, Guardian Medical Transport, local fire departments, the Park Service and Forest Service, Sheriff's Posse volunteers, members of the County Board of Supervisors, friends and family and members of the public, celebrated the Grand Opening of the new Coconino County Sheriff's Search and Rescue facility, which is located behind the Law Enforcement complex in Flagstaff.

This new building houses all of our team's Search and Rescue equipment, including our technical rescue gear, snow & ice and medical equipment, a fleet of snowmobiles and ATVs, a snow cat and other Search and Rescue vehicles, communications equipment, water rescue equipment and more. The facility now also brings our meetings, trainings and coordination under that same roof. This means more efficiency and even faster response times, since the team will no longer be operating between this new building and the main law enforcement building across the parking lot.

According to yesterday's article in the Arizona Daily Sun, construction on the new Search and Rescue facility began back in 2004, when the pavement was first poured. But that construction stalled soon afterward when financing dried up, and the actual structure wasn't completed until 2008. At that time, our team was able to move the equipment from its long-standing location on the east side of town at the County yard, making our response to call-outs more convenient.

From that point until just a few days ago, however, we'd been operating out of a shell of a building, with our Coordinator and map-printing capabilities over in the Sheriff's Office, which meant that preparing to deploy for a mission was what you might call a fragmented operation. Not so any longer, thanks to additional funding of this project by the County Board of Supervisors enabling the completion of the administrative side of the building. There's still work to be done, including the installation of a sixth bay door, a mezzanine, a climbing wall for training, and the paving of the exterior parking area, but that will happen over time.

On Saturday, SAR members were on hand to answer questions about our equipment--including a new Humvee from the Arizona National Guard--and our training program. Lunch was followed by comments from Sheriff Bill Pribil, members of the Board of Supervisors, State Representative Paul Gosar, and our team Captain, Andrew Moore, and then a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Here are some photos from the event....

The new sign

Our snow cat, some quads, and our new Hummer in the back

A gift from the National Guard

The huge bay where we store team equipment and vehicles.

Technical rescue and snow & ice equipment (and a rescue dummy)

The new communications room

The new meeting and training room with flat screen monitors

The kitchen, for events and to feed volunteers during big incidents

Our team captain cuts the ribbon as the Sheriff and many others look on

A Passing Motorist Brings A Search to a Close

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 09:30:26 PST

The man we were looking for had been missing for three days, having failed to show up at a prearranged rendezvous time after another of his many camping and "walkabout" trips in this area he knew well. I know I wasn't alone in my assumption that he wasn't "just" lost.

Hypothermia was a possibility, though. It had rained some in the past couple of days, and the subject apparently wasn't well prepared for the cold, wet weather. Injury was, of course, another possible scenario as was a potential miscommunication with the family member who'd gone back to get him on Saturday. Based on information we were given in our briefing prior to starting the search, we had reason to believe this may have been the case--that he had decided to stay out there longer but failed to contact his ride about his change of plans. Given the weather, though, and the fact that he wasn't properly equipped, our SAR Coordinator decided to call out the team to look for him sooner than later.

The subject had also made prior statements about taking his own life, so that too was on our minds.

We had been divided into teams of two, in this case one experienced member with one new member as the split was pretty much down the middle. It was good to see so many new SAR teammates from the latest academy come out for the search.

We were all in or on vehicles--SUVs, trucks, quads and the UTV--slowly driving unpaved roads and two-tracks, looking for the missing man's campsite and any other clues that might be associated with him, not to mention the man himself. We'd been told he preferred to stick to walking roads as opposed to traveling cross-country, so that's what we were starting with. As always, we were scanning the landscape and looking for any sign of tracks or clues, hoping to get a direction of travel. The team did find a number of things--the campsite, prints, a jacket--which turned out to be related to our subject.

But the search lasted only a couple of hours from the time we reached the area and deployed. A 9-1-1 call from a motorist on westbound I-40 about 21 miles east of Flagstaff, several miles from where we'd begun our search at the man's last known location, reported seeing what she thought was a body hanging from a billboard. It was difficult to see from the highway, so I'm thinking the person who spotted the lower portion of the man's body behind the billboard was an observant passenger.

Soon, Sheriff's deputies and SAR personnel confirmed the body as that of 39-year-old Stephen Dale Sterling, bringing our search to an end. (See the story in the Arizona Daily Sun.)

Searching For Justin

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:30:46 PST

With my left set of fingertips gripping a tiny, sharp ridge of (hopefully) embedded volcanic rock above me, my left foot perched on a small piece of (hopefully) embedded rock below, and my free hand and foot groping for something solid, I tentatively glanced down over my left shoulder. I decided there was no way I could safely go back the way I'd just come up, and I was doubtful about moving on. The steep wall of the canyon was covered in loose cinder, and I couldn't know for sure if the pieces of rock I wasn't quite able to reach were loose or solidly attached. Judge incorrectly or make a wrong move, and I was going for a fast ride down that cinder slide and over that ledge down there. That's what I was envisioning, anyway.

Crap. Not the kind of pickle I like to find myself in. And my two more confident teammates knew it. Every other word of mine was a bad one at that point.

So, you see, we'd completed our assignment, having been inserted into the Little Colorado River gorge by helicopter several hours earlier, exiting the DPS aircraft as the rotors continued to spin and kick up sand. We'd searched the far side of the river, which was flowing pretty well at the time, overlapping the point where another team had been inserted further upstream. We then forded the river at a wide, shallow (and slippery) area, and searched the opposite bank back the way we'd come. We'd been careful to look at piles of river debris from past flooding and kept an eye on the mud and shallow parts of the river for anything unusual that might be sticking out. We'd searched the shores, including small caves and crevices and vegetation that could potentially catch and hide human remains.

We were looking for any sign of 40-year-old Justin Brian Hall, an avid outdoorsman, former Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, and climber, who'd disappeared from a friend's home, where he'd been house-sitting in the very rural area near Sheba Crater and the border of the Navajo Reservation more than a month earlier. This was a continuation of the ongoing search, which had already extensively covered a one-mile radius around the house and well beyond, following up on tips and suggestions from locals and family and friends. Nothing at all had turned up that would indicate a destination or direction of travel.

This is the house where Justin had been staying....

Now searching about 10 miles (as the crow flies) from Justin's last known location, where his vehicle and belongings remained, ground teams were covering several miles along the Little Colorado River. A K9 team, with myself as one of the backers, had already searched the area just below and partway up Grand Falls at an earlier date, but it was being searched again on this day. We were looking for not only human remains but possibly a couple of items believed to be in Justin's possession at the house but yet unaccounted for, as well as any type of clue or sign that could potentially be linked to him. We found nothing.

Here are a couple of photos from our earlier search at Grand Falls with the dogs....

This is us searching partway up the falls, on a ledge.

Today, by the time our field team of three returned to the place we'd been dropped off at the bottom of the canyon several miles downstream from Grand Falls, the DPS crew had been reassigned and left the area. So our options were to climb out on our own or ... yeah, that was about it. We could do that either somewhere near where we were, or turn around and hike all the way back to Grand Falls, where we knew there was a trail to the rim. Or perhaps find a good place to climb out along the way.

We chose to find a route near where we were, but, looking up, it was difficult to tell how it would go. For the most part, the climb turned out to be steep (obviously) and the rocks and sparse vegetation were sharp, but it was otherwise okay ... except for a couple of spots like the one I described above, where I was temporarily frozen. And stopping one's momentum in sketchy spots doesn't exactly help matters. I could feel myself slipping every second I stayed in place.

Thankfully, my teammates stationed themselves in spots below and above me that gave me just enough confidence to move from those precarious locations. After anchoring himself as best he could, one of my companions offered me an outstretched wrist to reach for in case I needed it (which thankfully I didn't). My feet slipped as I practically threw myself across to the closest stable spot.

Eventually, the climb turned into a heart-pounding, steep scramble up a volcanic scree slope, but the scary stuff was over. Here's Keith at the top of the cinder slope....

Once at the top, we began walking towards base as we waited for someone to reach us by vehicle for a ride back.

********

Since that day about two weeks or so ago, the team hasn't been called upon again to search for Justin, who is still missing and very much missed by his family, many of whom are back east.

And here are two photos of Grand Falls, the top one taken on the day I just described. It was running quite a bit more than it had been about 10 days earlier, when I'd gone there to search with the K9 team. The lower photo was taken during spring runoff a few years ago. When Justin Hall went missing in mid-September, the Little Colorado was flowing at a much higher level than it was in the upper photo but not as much as the lower....

To see a photo of Justin Brian Hall, see the Coconino County Sheriff's press release.

A Facebook page has been set up as well. See: Missing Justin HALL

Back in 30 Minutes Turns Into Back in 18 Hours

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:37:27 PDT

She left her boyfriend's house at 9:30 in the morning, saying she was going for a short walk to "the Point" and would be back in half an hour. ("The Point" referred to a known location not far from the house.) At about 7:00 that night, our team was called to go look for her. A witness's likely sighting of the subject at about that time gave SAR a place to begin the search, up on Anderson Mesa near the Observatory.

This was one of those cases in which the missing person wasn't necessarily lost and might not want to be found. But we couldn't be sure of that, of course, and there was always the possibility, even if that were the case, she may have gotten injured or otherwise into trouble out there. So the search began, first with the K9 team sweeping the area and other searchers driving Forest Service roads and two-tracks. After the dogs had a chance to search the perimeter of the "point last seen" without others on foot contaminating the area, two of us set out on the Arizona Trail.

My search partner and I hiked more than 8 miles that night, tracking, calling the subject's name, scanning the moonlit surroundings with our headlamps. But all we heard in response to our calls were the elk bugling (which sometimes sounded like talking, sometimes crying and sometimes all sorts of other things) and all we saw in the beams of our headlamps were the glowing eyes of critters and the white stripes on four skunk tails, two of which went up in alarm. We're even quite sure that one set of moving eyes was a mountain lion. After a while, moonlit stumps began to look like human forms.

There wasn't much traffic over the radio that night other than an occasional status (or welfare) check by incident command with a "Code 4" (or "we're okay") response and a current location from the field team being called. Other than the vocal elk and the infrequent, distant sound of a vehicle passing on Lake Mary Rd., it was a quiet night.

Tired from more than eight miles of walking on rocky trail and even rockier Forest Service Roads, my partner and I walked back into base at about 1:30a.m., where we found the K9 team and other searchers. Negative contact all around. We were dismissed from duty, and home we went, expecting another call-out for fresh searchers to come by 4am.

But that call never came. We later learned that the missing woman had shown up back at her boyfriend's house at 3:30am.

Oh well. It was pretty cool being out there at night ... even IF we were being stalked by a mountain lion. I doubt I'd ever wake up, comfortable in my bed in the middle of the night, and say, "Hey, I think I'll go for a moonlight hike on Anderson Mesa." So this search for someone who apparently wasn't in distress at least got me some exercise and a neat outdoor experience. Just glad it didn't get me sprayed by a skunk.

And in other Coconino County SAR news....

The team has been busy with other recent missions, including a body recovery at Midgley Bridge in Oak Creek Canyon near Sedona. In this case, the victim was a 30-year-old California woman whose body was discovered by two hikers. I believe this is the fourth recovery at Midgley Bridge this year.

The team also spent a couple of days out near Sheba Crater, searching for a man missing for more than a month. Justin Brian Hall, 40, was last seen on Sept. 7th at a home on Leupp Road near milepost 442, just west of the Navajo Reservation. He was housesitting for a friend at the time, and his vehicles and belongings were found at that home. Hall is said to be an experienced outdoorsman, an avid hiker and a rock-climbing enthusiast.

While this search was underway, other members of the team participated in an evidence search near Seligman.

Search & Rescue volunteers also assisted with parking and traffic control at the funeral of Flagstaff Police Chief Brent Cooper who died unexpectedly on Sunday morning, October 9th, while jogging with his loyal dog, Winston, on Purple Sage Rd. near Fort Tuthill. Winston remained with the Chief until he was found that afternoon. Chief Cooper served with the department for 33-years.

And, most recently, five members of the technical rescue team assisted a stranded hiker above "the Waterfall" on Mt. Elden.

Missing at The Wave

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:11:15 PDT

I'm leaning over the steering wheel, fighting the sleepies, while my teammate snoozes in the passenger seat. (Looks like he's going to have a stiff neck when he wakes up.) But no, I'm not scribbling with one hand while driving with the other; I'm composing a blog post in my head to help me stay awake.

Let's see, I haven't slept in (calculating...) about 30 hours, and we've still got a few hours left to go before we get back to Flagstaff. I probably should pull over somewhere and do a wake-up jig.

Anyway, last night -- or was it the day before? No, it was last night. So I had just finished watching a movie -- can't even remember which one right now -- and crawled into bed when the text message came in: "Missing hiker at The Wave, near the Utah border. Respond to the SAR building to depart at 1am."

A minute or so later, the voice mail came through. By then, I'd decided to go, so I called in and left my "Number 6-2-0, Deb Lauman responding" message. Turned out that just two other team members responded to the call-out, one of whom is not really a hiker anymore. But he did come along to accompany our Coordinator in his vehicle and help him drive and assist with Incident Command. No one else responded after the second and third call-outs.

So northward the four of us went in our two vehicles, with Dennis and me in the pick-up full of tech gear, just in case. (We take technical rescue equipment and the Stokes litter on all missions.) It was still dark when we turned onto House Rock Valley Rd. and bumped our way along to the trailhead for The Wave and Buckskin Gulch (the world's longest slot canyon). I'd been there before, a couple of years ago. Dennis had been there several years before that.

Okay, I admit it; I did nod off a bit on the ride up, since I was the passenger.

Anyhow ... the missing hiker we were looking for was a 70-year-old man -- a geologist who must have been in heaven in this natural wonder of an area when he told his three companions he was going from The Wave over to the nearby Wave II formation and would be back in 15 minutes. Four hours later, apparently, his friends decided to go look for him. That was yesterday afternoon.

So, here's a picture of the Wave II. Pretty cool, huh?

We were given a description of what the man was wearing (which turned out to be incorrect, actually), and, as the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, the two of us searchers started off down the wash for the three-mile hike to The Wave and the subject's "last known point" (LKP).

We were searching and calling along the way, of course, and we detoured a bit to a slot canyon, where we actually made voice contact with a man we couldn't see.

"Hello!" we called.
"Hello?" he answered. He sounded cautious.
"Are you [insert subject's name]?" Dennis asked.
No response.
"We're with Search and Rescue," I then called down into the canyon. "We're looking for [subject]."
No response.
"Are you the lost person we're looking for?"
"We're just hiking," came the man's reply from the canyon.

And that was it. He didn't answer us again. Hmm. Might have been someone (or two people maybe, because he had said "we") out there without the required permit. Maybe that's why he'd been reluctant to talk to us.

And onward Dennis and I went, climbing up and over and around rock formations and trudging across sand. It had quickly gone from very chilly to very hot, and I made a big dent in my water supply early on.

When we got close to The Wave, at the base of the sand dune we'd have to climb to get up there, we decided to first search a slot canyon to the west of The Wave and below the Wave II. We figured that the likelihood of the missing hiker actually being at either formation was slim, given that there were already other people at those locations who'd have run into him. (We'd seen them along the route and talked to a few of them.) We also wondered if perhaps the subject had fallen into the canyon we were about to search, since there certainly are fall hazards. So we turned west and entered the narrow canyon to search from below.

Here's a glimpse of that canyon. The Wave II was way up above, to the left...

In the meantime, a fixed-wing aircraft, flown by the Kane County, UT, SAR Coordinator was searching high overhead. And then a DPS helicopter arrived to fly lower than the plane. We heard the rotors nearby as we made our way further into the canyon.

Eventually, Dennis and I got cliffed-out in the canyon and it was too sketchy to go up and around to the side in order to continue on. So we decided to go back out to that sand dune below The Wave, ascend and head over to the Wave II, and then try to get back down into the slot canyon from above, bypassing the obstacle we'd run into. Dennis had done that before, years ago, and he recalled that there was a way to do it safely.

But we didn't quite get that far. After trudging up the sandy incline and across the slickrock "shelf," then down to where we could see our re-entry into the slot canyon, we heard through the static on our radios that the subject had been located by the helicopter crew, and they'd soon be landing to pick him up.

Turns out, the missing hiker was up, not down -- that somehow he'd scrambled to the top of the mesa above The Wave and was perhaps stuck up there. I really don't know exactly how he ended up where he did, when the Wave II is so easy to find when coming from The Wave. (Must have gone walk-about to explore some more and then gotten himself misplaced.) In any case, he was in good shape -- in part thanks to water pockets he'd been able to drink from -- and good spirits, as were his three friends when hot and tired Dennis and I arrived back at base.

And now I'm really looking forward to a hot shower. The soft bed will have to wait awhile, though, because as tired as I am, I can never seem to sleep in the middle of the day. I'll just be glad to get out of this truck.

Welcoming New Team Members and Saying Goodbye to Another

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:15:06 PDT

The Search & Rescue Academy is underway, with 18 new members taking classes in skills such as Personal Safety, Map and Compass, GPS navigation, ATV operation, and Tracking, with a mock search to be held at the end of the two-month training. Once students have completed the Academy, including two Incident Command System tests, they'll be added to the call-out list and be eligible to respond to missions.

Sadly, as we welcome new members to the Coconino County Sheriff's Search and Rescue team, we're also mourning the loss of another -- a four-legged team member named Nitro. Nitro, whose nickname was Peedles, was the oldest and most experienced of handler Cindy McArthur's four SAR dogs, and he did his job enthusiastically and with energy till the day before he suddenly succumbed to previously undetected liver cancer earlier this month. Nitro was ten years old.

A NASAR-certified search dog cross-trained in area search (for live subjects) and HRD (Human Remains Detection), Nitro had three live finds and three HR finds on missions during his career and countless other successful finds during trainings as much as three times per week.

Among his mission finds were an autistic teen, an 83 year-old man with dementia who'd been missing more than 40 hours, the verified location of the scent of human remains in a closet three years after the body had been removed, which led to the killer's arrest, and the location of 8 human bones buried in a pack rat nest. Earlier this year, Nitro located two lost hikers in the San Francisco Peaks and also found a smear of blood on a pair of pants inside a locked trunk, later determined to be human blood through the use of Luminal by the Coconino Sheriff's Office CSI Team.

Nitro received the Search & Rescue Dog of the Year award in 2005 from the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and, in the same year, the Kingman Police Department Excellence Award for assistance in a homicide case (which he shared with Radar, another of Cindy's search dogs). Nitro also received the Good Gun Foundation Award for Search Dog Unit in 2007.

As Cindy said, "[Nitro] was the best SAR dog any handler could dream for, and I will miss him dearly. Our SAR unit has lost one of it's most dedicated members."

Having worked with Nitro as Cindy's backer and also as a lost subject for her dogs, I too will miss sweet, loyal Nitro.

******

The Search and Rescue community recently lost another member of its family -- DPS helicopter pilot, Matthew Uhl, who was killed in a car accident on September 20th when the vehicle he was driving was struck head-on by a Ford Explorer moving at a high rate of speed as the driver may have been attempting to pass other vehicles. Matthew Uhl was deceased on scene.

Uhl, a DPS Pilot since 2006, operated the Bell 407 Ranger Air Rescue and was assigned to the DPS Central Air Rescue Unit in Phoenix. At the time of his death, he was en route to cover a shift in Kingman as part of the DPS Western Air Rescue.

On February 20, 2010, Matt Uhl and DPS Officer/Paramedic Eric Tarr rescued 3-year-old Victoria Bensch who had been missing for nearly 15 hours after she wandered away from her Cordes Lakes home.

Uhl was also the pilot who flew the short-haul rescue of the severely injured canyoneer in Insomnia Canyon on August 13th that our team participated in. He will be sorely missed.

See DPS Pilot Killed in Head-On Accident

Body Recovery Call at Bear Canyon Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:40:35 PDT

Just catching up on some SAR missions from the past few weeks, including a call for the technical rescue team at about 7:30 on a Sunday morning, for a body recovery -- two, unfortunately -- at Bear Canyon Lake in the Forest Lakes area. I wasn't able to respond to that call, but a teammate of mine filled me in the next day. This is what he said....

"Six Tech Team members showed up, and because there was rain in the forecast we loaded all the gear in the back of the Suburban instead of the pickup to ensure the rope stayed dry. We were told that an ATV had gone over a cliff, but as with most rescues the initial information is often unreliable, so we weren't sure how this one would unfold.

We finally turned toward Bear Canyon Lake on a what was initially a decent dirt road, but it deteriorated quickly. When we arrived at the scene we found a group of Forest Service and fire hot shot personnel and the Medical Examiner vehicle.

Below us was an approximately 15-foot deep ravine, with a wrecked ATV and the bodies of two young men in their early 20s lying near it. It's always tragic to see young lives ended much too soon, and I could only imagine the pain the families were feeling.

We realized we could walk to the scene from the edges of the ravine, so with the help of the hot shots we transported them up to the road. The Forest Service folks told us this was the 6th fatal ATV accident this year in the Forest Lakes area.

With our mission complete, we headed back on the dirt road, where the suburban suddenly stopped running. We ended up having to load all the gear into the pickup and left the disabled suburban with [our Coordinator and one team member], who waited for the tow truck. When we arrived back at the building we were all stiff -- not from the mission but from the 5-1/2 hour drive.

For us the mission was complete. For the families of the victims, the agony of their loss was just beginning."

A Training Hike & Abandoned Camp in West Fork Canyon -- and other SAR news

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:03:53 PDT

There are certain places within the county that our team is called to time and time again, and, over time, patterns begin to emerge. People tend to get into pickles often in the same places and under similar circumstances. So it's a good idea for those in Search and Rescue to familiarize themselves with these popular "people-in-pickles" spots, so when we're called upon to go find the lost and assist the injured, we know what we're getting into and where we're going.

I'd never hiked into West Fork Canyon from the top, so this training hike was a good opportunity for me to check it out. Four of us, led by assistant SAR Coordinator, Dave, who's very familiar with the area from many years of exploring by foot and flying over it as a helicopter medic, would hike and boulder in at least 2.5 miles to the junction of West Fork Canyon and Casner Cabin Draw, which is a place where hikers often go astray when thru-hiking West Fork from below. Many of those hikers don't carry maps and end up going up Casner Cabin Draw instead of West Fork. In Casner Cabin Draw, they come to a choke stone and can go no further. Then they're confused, tired, and darkness overtakes them in the rugged canyon. Eventually, they're reported overdue by a friend or family member when they fail to show up by the expected time (and often then some), and SAR is called.

In addition to familiarizing ourselves with the canyon, we had another job to do on this training mission: we'd be investigating an abandoned campsite that had been spotted first by air during an earlier mission and then briefly checked by two SAR volunteers who'd later hiked in that same night to locate five overdue hikers (with no connection to that campsite).

It was a warm morning, but I resisted the urge to zip off the bottom halves of my convertible pants because I knew the canyon would be thick with vegetation and there would be plenty of blowdowns to crawl under and over. And I was right. Had I been wearing just the shorts, I would have gotten even more scratched up.

The going was slow, not only because of the absence of trail, the countless opportunities to sprain or break an ankle, and the heat, but also because the canyon is so beautiful. We kept stopping to look around and appreciate how pretty it is.

As we hiked further, the canyon narrowed and the walls went higher. Wildflowers were blooming, hummingbirds were buzzing, and one pretty snake (non-poisonous) slithered past us after we disturbed its snooze in the shade of a rock. We saw bear scat but no bear. Dave told us about hiking this canyon with his dad, when he was a boy. He also told us how he and a friend carried out (without a litter, so literally carried) another friend who became seriously ill on their hike.

As we went, we'd periodically pause to guess where on our topographic maps we were. We'd all look around at the terrain and compare it to the contours on the map and point out our guesses to Dave, who'd guess as well. Then I'd map the coordinates from my GPS and see who'd come closest. It was a good exercise and a fun challenge. It was also fun to get it right!

After maneuvering our way through a section of large boulders, we came to the junction of the two canyons, also the location of the abandoned campsite. To me, it looked as if a party of perhaps as many as three people had decided, hey, let's try this backpacking thing, gone to Walmart and bought tents, sleeping pads and other not-so-pricy gear, some of which was more suited for car-camping than backpacking, and set off on their first overnight hike. Then, after struggling through that rugged canyon with all that STUFF on their backs, including some new clothes and new shoes, decided the next morning that all that shlepping wasn't as fun as they'd expected. So they took only the bare minimum for the hike out and left the rest. They'd left yucky garbage, deoderant and cologne behind, too.

We packed out their trash, usable and not.

At that point, we considered whether or not to add about 2.5 more miles to our already 5-mile round-trip hike to go up Casner Cabin Draw to the choke stone. But the thunder was rumbling loudly by then, and it was already later than we'd anticipated, so we decided to head back.

It was a great day and a useful reconnaissance mission. The next time we get a call for overdue hikers in West Fork, I'll know more than just the first few easy miles from the bottom.

And in other Coconino County Search and Rescue news....

Here's a really good article with photos about that recent (VERY) technical rescue in Insomnia Canyon, a tributary of West Fork: Climber Miraculously Survives 140-Foot Fall

And I received a mission report from my teammate, who responded to the call for a litter evacuation of an injured hiker on the Humphreys Trail. He wrote:

"I left at 6:30 am this morning to get a backpacking permit at the Grand Canyon, then proceeded to do a 5 mile day hike on the Hermit trail. About 30 minutes after I got back, there was the callout for the Humphreys litter carry. I responded directly to Snow Bowl [with another team member], and we both were transported by the Snow Bowl UTV to the trailhead. By this time, [a second callout was made]. We arrived at the patient, and eight rescuers including a young hiker who volunteered to help, and Flag Fire and Guardian personnel 200 yards beyond the sign-in box. [The patient] was already packaged in their litter and was in obvious pain with an injured arm and ankle due to a fall. I called [our coordinator], who had not yet arrived on scene, and let him know we had it covered, and we slowly brought [the patient] down, stopping to administer Morphine 3 times. We loaded her on the back of the Snowbowl UTV and steadied the litter as it drove down slowly. When we got back to the parking lot, there were more than 6 SAR members waiting. Fortunately it was a short rescue, because I was pretty worn out."

An Out-of-County Search -- Coconino SAR Assists in Apache County

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:57:18 PDT

It was late on the night of our monthly general SAR meeting when our Coordinator announced that Apache County was requesting our assistance with the search for a missing hiker. They were asking us to respond to their Incident Command the next morning for a two-day stay.

I looked across the room at Cindy, our K9 handler, with the "ya wanna?" question on my face. We'd talked about this search a few days earlier, when she'd gotten a call about it -- a little advance notice that Apache County would probably be asking for her to bring her dogs, all four of which are NASAR-certified and cross-trained in area search (for live subjects) and human remains detection.

I needed to make sure I had someone to watch my own (non-SAR) dog, and I'd had other things I was planning to do in the next couple of days, but I was willing to go if she was. I'd go along as Cindy's backer.

So, we decided to do it. The two of us, four rather large dogs (at least, they seem large when they're all in the same vehicle), and a bunch of gear piled into Cindy's SUV the next morning and headed southeast. This was an area Cindy knew well from her childhood, but I'd only passed through a couple of times.

******

Helping with a SAR mission in a different county is an interesting experience. It's difficult, if not altogether impossible, to leave behind the expectations of how a search will be carried out based on your experience with your own team and the norms you're used to. (Coconino County is fortunate, by the way, to have a full-time Search and Rescue Coordinator. Most counties do not.) As a searcher, though, you report to whoever is in charge, you give your two cents -- your ideas and suggestions -- if asked for, you get your assignment, and you carry out that assignment to the best of your ability. And that's what Cindy and I and four hard-working Golden Retrievers did.

It was a stormy day, and our assignment took us up to 11,400 feet on the open summit of Mt. Baldy, Arizona's second highest peak, and into the thick trees on the extremely steep slopes surrounding the ridge. I felt the adrenaline rush through my veins each time the thunder seemed to be coming back our way. The rain fell steadily, and we and the dogs were soon soaked and stayed that way for the duration. It was cold up there.

Cindy and her four search dogs near the summit of Mt. Baldy

Searching for scent along the treeline on the Mt. Baldy ridge

Searching the ridge after the thunderstorm moved off

We were searching for Frank Carl Patane, 60, from Tucson. Mr. Patane had disappeared on August 11th, after signing the Mt. Baldy trailhead register at 7:30 that morning. His vehicle was found at the trailhead a couple of days later by a deputy, when the hotel staff where Mr. Patane had been staying reported that he hadn't returned after saying he was going to hike that mountain.

Family members described Frank Patane as an avid day hiker who was inexperienced as a camper. He'd had surgery for a detached left retina a month before this solo hike. They were concerned that his eyesight may have become an issue.

On the day Mr. Patane signed the register, a severe storm hit the area at roughly 11:30am, an hour after another party signed that same trail register. They'd turned back due to the weather, having seen no sign of the man we were searching for. The search continued intensely for 17 days, with multiple counties responding -- ground-pounders, K9 teams, ATV teams, and mounted units. No clues were found.

The "chow truck," feeding volunteers from many counties during the search

Basic information on the missing person on the side of the Command Trailer

Incident Command / Base Camp

On our second day assisting with the search, Cindy and I were joined by another teammate from Coconino County. We grid-searched a large meadow with a narrow, muddy creek running through it, as well as a wooded area and some unoccupied buildings (one of which was heavily guarded by wasps) as thunder continued to rumble.

We search again the next day

Cindy and the dogs and another backer (I couldn't go) returned to Apache County a second time the following weekend. They searched for two days during the final "big push" to locate Mr. Patane. Last I heard -- and I've found nothing online to indicate otherwise -- no clues have yet to be found.

Here's another news article about the search, with a photos of Frank Carl Patane: Authorities Continue Search for Missing Hiker; More K9 Search Teams Join the Effort

An "Extreme," Multi-Agency Technical Rescue

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:37:10 PDT

Photo courtesy of R. Marlatt

First an overview and then some personal comments about this mission, which may be one of the most technically difficult rescues our team has ever faced....

On Saturday, August 13th, 36 year-old Mike McEntire from Payson, AZ, was canyoneering with several friends in Insomnia Canyon, a tributary of West Fork near Sedona. Mike was on the final 150 feet of a 350-foot rappel when he lost control, picking up speed, and fell about 100 feet. He struck a rock on the way down and then fell another 40 feet, ending up a total of 1,800 feet below the rim with multiple injuries. Two of his friends continued down canyon and made the long trip out to get help, while two others remained behind with Mike.

Once emergency services were notified of the accident, more than 25 rescuers from multiple agencies responded, including Coconino County Sheriff's Search and Rescue, Sedona Fire District, Flagstaff Fire Department, Guardian Medical Transport, Department of Public Safety helicopters out of Kingman and Phoenix, and Native Air.

Two of the volunteers from Search and Rescue had to make eight rappels and three swims to reach the patient late Saturday night and remained with him, rendering medical care while other rescuers rappelled with the Stokes litter, additional medical equipment, and gear for setting up lowering and raising systems, main and belay lines. About 2,600 feet of rope was needed.

An attempt by a DPS helicopter crew was made at first light on Sunday to short haul the patient from his original location, but the slot canyon was too tight for the aircraft. So the patient was then raised by rescuers 800 feet to a ledge where he could be accessed for the short haul, which took place at 1pm at Sunday, at least 24-hours after he'd fallen. Two rescuers accompanied the patient on the raise, while two others continued down canyon with the patient's uninjured friends, including at least a couple more rappels and then a lengthy hike out. They were met en route by fire personnel, who'd hiked in from the Call of the Canyon trailhead to assist them with carrying gear after their exhausting time in the canyon.

After the patient was removed from the canyon and flown to a hospital in Phoenix, where he's since been upgraded from critical to serious condition, came the arduous task for the rescuers of getting themselves and their gear out of the canyon, with a 1,000-foot elevation difference between their location and the rim. This involved ascending ropes one by one, hauling both their own body weight and heavy gear with their spent muscles.

Several rescuers were able to make the difficult climb, but given the stormy monsoon weather that was moving in, the time of day, and their extreme exhaustion, six of the remaining rescuers were short hauled to the rim by DPS. DPS also assisted with this rescue by lowering a cargo net full of fluids to the rescuers and hauling off two nets full of gear.

Rescue personnel were assisted by volunteer members of Coconino County C.E.R.T. (Community Emergency Response Team), who drove our weary group back to Flagstaff. Their help was much needed and appreciated.

Regarding the patient ... In a comment on a Hiking Examiner article, Mike McEntire's mother writes, "He did break both his heels, and his pelvis in six places. He also fractured his spine and had internal bleeding. The internal bleeding seems to have stopped. He will need to have more surgeries and procedures and it will be at least 3 months before he is able to walk again."

And now for some personal comments (sorry, I know this is long, but....):

I am so proud to be a member of this team and so proud of my teammates, who went all out on this mission and at personal risk. Controlled risk, yes, and with as much attention to safety as possible, but no tech rescue is without risk, of course. And this one was a doozy.

Yes, I was on this mission, and I did assist, but my role was minimal compared to my teammates. I say that because, after descending approximately 500 feet below the rim on a handline (using a Prusik), when I came to the ledge at the start of the next 500-foot rappel, I ultimately made the decision that that's where I needed to stop. It wasn't an easy decision, and I agonized about it through the night as each of my teammates loaded up with gear in addition to their own packs, attached their self-belays to the second rope and their rappel devices and, one by one, descended through the thick manzanita, their headlamps soon disappearing from view. It seemed to take a very long time until the one on rappel would announce over the radio that he was off rappel and off belay. One said this was the nastiest rappel he'd ever experienced.

A 500-foot rappel. With heavy gear. With a self-belay. Through the brush and other difficulties. Was I ready for that? What would happen if I ran into trouble partway down? On my own. I didn't really have enough rope time under my belt -- not with all that gear, all that distance -- I thought to myself. And if things didn't go right, I was putting not only myself but my team and, ultimately, the man we were there to rescue at even greater risk. No, I decided, I wasn't going down any further.

So the best I could do to help was go up and down the hand line with equipment, help with communications, and whatever else might be called for up top.

Of course, this mission wasn't about me whatsoever, and I'm sure no one was really thinking about me BUT me. And I had to make a decision about my own limitations, regardless of the fact that more hands were sorely needed below. Like I said, it was a very tough call for me. But I'll be continuing to gain experience on the rope, rappelling and ascending with my pack and extra gear, passing knots in both directions ... and with someone else belaying me, at least at first. Eventually, I'll be ready.

And in the interest of not ending on a note about me, I want to reiterate what an awesome job Coconino County Sheriff's Search and Rescue technical team did, along with all other responding agencies. You saved a life in really difficult conditions. You rock!

A Vision Quest Gone Bad?

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:57:23 PDT

That's what the note said that 43-year-old Michael Snarski of Thornton, Colorado, had left on his dashboard -- that he was not lost; he was on a vision quest. The note was dated 7/24/11.

Two weeks later, someone reported to the Sheriff's office that the car was still there, parked at a pull-out about twenty miles south of Williams, AZ. That's when detectives asked for our K9 team, trained in human remains (HR) detection, to come to the site and check the vehicle. They'd smelled what could have been an intermittent, faint "odor of death," they said. Our dog handler, Cindy, then contacted me and another team member, often her backers on other missions, to accompany her and her four NASAR-certified Golden Retrievers.

All four dogs independently alerted on the trunk of the vehicle, but my teammates and I didn't smell anything in the air or coming from the car. Still, each dog gave an enthusiastic, distinct alert, a couple of them becoming what I'd call frustrated at not being able to find the source of the smell, digging at the ground by the trunk and jumping up on the vehicle with their front legs.

A deputy called his boss for permission to have the vehicle unlocked and the trunk opened. Permission was granted, and we all waited, wondering what we'd find.

Once the trunk was opened, however, there was no visible evidence of human decomposition and no odor -- at least none detectable by our human noses. The dogs were again brought back to the car, one by one, and each now alerted on a specific area of the trunk.

"Show me," Cindy would say when they each alerted. And each dog jumped back up and touched the same spot inside the trunk with their paws and noses. Something related to human decomposition was there, but whatever it was, we couldn't see it and we couldn't touch the numerous items in the trunk to look beneath them.

Later, after the vehicle was towed and law enforcement searched the vehicle, it was discovered that the dogs had indeed found something -- a spot of blood about the size of nickel on a pair of pants.

Following more investigation, an extensive area search was planned and SAR volunteers from both Coconino and Yavapai Counties were called, including K9, ground and mounted units. I'm sure everyone was thinking this would likely be a long, tedious search through difficult terrain. Even the command trailer was being brought out to the site.

K9 units arrived at the search area at first light, to begin while the air was cool and while the light winds would still be coming up out of nearby Bear canyon. That way, the dogs would be able to detect human scent if the missing person were down in that canyon. The wind would (and did) soon change direction as the sun rose, so we wanted to search the rim as soon as possible.

But the search didn't last long. As Cindy and I slowly made our way along the rim with two of her dogs, picking through thick manzanita, over rocks and other pinion/juniper forest debris, and one lethargic snake, another K9 team discovered Michael Snarski's body not far from the road. He was sitting on a blanket, up against a tree, with full water bottles and a couple of uneaten, by then blackened bananas at his side. Facing west towards what may have been the sinking sun on his final day, he still had his sunglasses on. This is the last view Michael would have seen, but without all of the SAR vehicles. His car had been parked where ours now were:

See the Sheriff's Office Media Release: Missing Person Snarski Located Deceased

Remember the Telephone Game?

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 09:28:13 PDT

Sometimes Search and Rescue is a little like that game I played at camp when I was a kid. Someone would start out with a couple of sentences and whisper them into the ear of the next kid in line. That kid would then whisper to the next and so on, until the message reached the last person and he or she announced the message. Then it was compared to the original message, and, nearly every time, it was at least a little -- if not very -- different.

I don't know the chain of communication in this latest SAR case, but by the time I saw the Facebook post by a local newsperson who listens to and reports on scanner traffic, it was "MAJOR MEDICAL: 3 APS employees have fallen from a ledge while working on a power box on Mt. Elden." I began changing into my mission clothes immediately.

Soon afterward, SAR was called, and I headed out. This was going to be a long, difficult mission, I thought, evacuating three injured patients off that rugged mountain. Apparently, they were not on or near a trail.

Soon, nine of our volunteers rendezvoused with Flagstaff Fire Department personnel at the base of Mt. Elden along the gas pipeline trail. Two of our members, who had responded directly to the mountain while the rest of us loaded Stokes litters and other technical rescue equipment, climbed up to the power company workers, who were visible from below. There were actually seven of them up there.

When the rest of the responding SAR members arrived on scene, we and Flag Fire were informed that everyone on the mountain was mobile and could be walked down. What had happened to the injuries I'd read about online? A leg injury, a foot injury, and one complaining of "severe chest and stomach pains"?

Apparently, there was one guy with a bad knee that was bothering him, but no leg injury. There was no evidence of a foot injury that I was aware of, and I was told that the chest and stomach pains had been cramps from dehydration, relieved by the water and Gatorade brought up to them by the first responders on scene.

Those of us preparing to climb up were asked to bring mountain rope and other gear needed to rig some safety handlines as a precaution for the bouldering left to be done to reach the bottom. Some of the APS workers were tired and, though they'd been rehydrated, might be at greater risk of tripping and falling on shaky legs. We also brought extra helmets and headlamps in case it got dark before everyone was down.

In the end, everything went smoothly and all were in good spirits and good shape. No one requested or wanted medical attention.

From what I heard, the APS workers had, earlier that morning, left a couple of their vehicles at the base of the mountain, then driven to the summit. They were, as one man put it, on a "reconaissance mission" to scope out an electrical line that was going to be built (or rebuilt maybe). "It wasn't one of the smartest things we've ever done," he said.

I'm really not sure what exactly happened up there, but they didn't seem prepared--physically or otherwise--for a day on the mountain. I believe several of the workers had made it down or most of the way down to their vehicles at the bottom but had then gone back up to assist the other three. If there had been any kind of fall, I didn't hear anyone mention it. Hm ... who knows? Just glad it all worked out well, with daylight to spare.

Searching for Those Who Don't Want to Be Found

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:02:29 PDT

I could feel the sweat dripping down my neck and back and occasionally off the tip of my nose. It was late at night, but Oak Creek Canyon was holding in the heat and monsoon season humidity. I turned off my headlamp as my partner and I stopped for a brief rest, and, in the absence of a moon, couldn't see the drop-off to my right.

We each called one of the missing boys' names. As we'd expected, there was no response from the darkness.

These were not "just" missing teenagers. They were runaways. Earlier that day, they'd taken off from some sort of camp for troubled or IN trouble youth, scrambling up a very steep slope, towards what we didn't know. Did they?

Randy and I picked up some human tracks, off-trail, soon after we'd arrived at our assigned search area along Route 89A in Oak Creek Canyon. But we lost those tracks amongst the thick pine needles and game trails partway up the calf-burning slope. We later wondered if the boys had stopped and hidden until the coast was clear, then gone back down to the road.

Picking and slipping our way back down to the road, I stopped frequently to pull bits of forest debris out of the palms of my hands. Mental note: wear my work gloves when doing stuff like this.

When we got to our vehicle, we drove down the road (up and down, actually, until we found the nondescript trailhead we were looking for) and headed up the Thomas Trail to the rim, calling and searching upslope and down with our headlamps. We needed to be sure that the boys, though they intentionally ran away, hadn't gotten themselves into a bad situation -- cliffed out, for example, or injured -- in the process.

Meanwhile, other ground teams were searching by ATV and UTV up on the rim. Another pair of searchers was hiking the Telephone Trail, parallel to ours, maybe a mile away. All reported negative contact.

Before Randy and I hiked back to the bottom of the canyon, we contacted Incident Command and found out that our Coordinator had gone further down 89A to assist with a multiple fatality, head-on collision near Grasshopper Point and Midgley Bridge. He asked us to look closely for "sign" (footprints or other clues) at the top of the trail, but we saw nothing of interest around Thomas Point.

About an hour later, we slipped our sweaty packs off our sweaty backs. Randy then called I.C. on the radio for our next assignment.

"You can return to Flagstaff," our Coordinator told us. "The subjects have been located."

Back at the SAR building close to midnight, we learned that a family member had contacted law enforcement and said the boys were safe ... somewhere.

Hm, interesting.

*******

Earlier last week, our SAR team responded to a call to search for a missing suicidal female. We were given the description of her vehicle, and our search area was based on information from a cell phone "ping" from her most recent call. We were instructed to contact Incident Command if we located the woman and/or her vehicle but not to approach. She was eventually located in that vehicle, alive but in need of medical assistance.

*******

Recent SAR Stories News posts:

New Search and Rescue Reading and Ongoing Searches

Search and Rescue Reading and Writing

The Mountain Locator Unit and Other Emergency Signaling Devices

Search and Rescue Community Outreach

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 19:57:15 PDT

This past week, members of the Coconino County Sheriff's Search and Rescue team visited the kids at Pinewood Camp in Munds Park for the second time, teaching them about SAR, the ten essentials, map and compass and a little alternative navigation, how to NOT get lost and what to do if they do get lost, and a bit of backcountry patient care and litter evacuation. A good time was had by team members and campers alike.

Fourteen kids participated in the program, ranging in age from seven to fourteen. During the initial overview of what Search and Rescue is all about, there were lots of questions -- bear encounters was a theme that kept coming up -- and requests for SAR stories that had taken place in the area.

After a few stories, we divided the kids into two groups and had some fun with navigation, gear, and hands-on, simulated patient evacuation with the backboard and Stokes litter.

Here, Pete does show and tell with the ten essentials from his backpack...

Meanwhile, Al and Dave teach some navigation to the other half of the group....

Next, we did a bit of pretend SAR. In this photo, the injured subject has been located and packaged in the litter...

The kids help Bob, Pete and I evacuate our patient (who was a very enthusiastic actress)....

After the groups swapped places and had a chance to do everything we'd planned, we did a little impromptu technical rescue demonstration (with an imaginary cliff)...

After we wrapped up and the campers left for lunch, the camp host said it had gone really well and the kids must have had a great time ... because they didn't even once ask about their usual snack break. We were then invited back for next summer.

One of the ongoing requirements for being a member team of the Mountain Rescue Association is doing community outreach and PSAR (Preventative Search and Rescue), so we'll be doing more presentations and interactive programs in the future, for both children and adults.

CoCo SAR News

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:47:01 PDT

Although our team actually passed the last of three required field tests (wilderness search, technical rock rescue, and snow and ice) this past March, press releases are now going out about Coconino County Sheriff's Search and Rescue team's MRA (Mountain Rescue Association) accreditation.

From a recent media release from the office of Sheriff Bill Pribil:

During the June meeting of the International Mountain Rescue Association (MRA), held in Eagle Colorado, the Coconino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Technical Rescue Team received full accreditation as a certified member of MRA. The MRA was established in 1959 at Timberline Lodge at Mount Hood, Oregon, making it the oldest Search and Rescue association in the United States.

The MRA is an organization of teams dedicated to saving lives through rescue and mountain safety education. The goal of MRA is to improve the quality, availability, and safety of mountain search and rescue. With over ninety government authorized units, the MRA has grown to become the critical mountain search and rescue resource in the United States.

The highly respected Mountain Rescue Association accredits teams involved in mountain rescue and has very high standards for performance in the areas of wilderness search, technical rock rescue, and snow and ice rescue. A team applying for full accreditation must pass an evaluation in each of those disciplines. Arizona lies within the Mountain Rescue Association’s Desert Mountain Region along with the state of Nevada. Within the Desert Mountain Region there are only three other fully accredited teams including the Southern Arizona Rescue Association, Central Arizona Mountain Rescue Association, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Search and Rescue Unit.

On March 6th and 7th the Coconino County Sheriff’s Technical Rescue Team completed the Snow and Ice accreditation exam. The team was evaluated on winter rescue techniques. The evaluation included a field exercise in which an avalanche with three victims was simulated. The team was observed in the field by evaluators from the Southern Arizona Rescue Association, Central Arizona Mountain Rescue Association, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The team's knowledge of over the snow travel, snow anchors, avalanche safety, winter survival techniques, winter rescue pre-plans, wilderness medical considerations and patient transport, and winter rescue equipment use was tested in the scenario.

With this last of three evaluations completed the Coconino County Sheriff’s Technical Rescue Team achieved accreditation in the three disciplines required for full accreditation. The Wilderness Search accreditation was passed in August 2010 and the Technical Rock Rescue accreditation was passed in October 2010. Coconino County Sheriff Bill Pribil said, “The Sheriff’s Office and the residents of Coconino County are truly blessed to have more than one hundred dedicated volunteers who spend countless hours training on an annual basis and who are willing to place themselves in harms way by venturing into hazardous terrain or inclement weather conditions to help there fellow man or woman.”

In other CoCo SAR news...

Yesterday, as I was listening to the scanner, I heard about an injured hiker on Mt. Elden. At first, SAR was put on standby by Flagstaff Fire Department, apparently the first on scene and taking over incident command. Once fire department personnel and Guardian medics reached the patient, who'd suffered a head wound with loss of consciousness on the Elden Lookout Trail, and packaged her in a litter, they did request SAR assistance. Team members responded directly to the trailhead and hiked up to rendezvous with the evacuation team already on their way down, providing extra hands to relieve those who needed a break on the difficult, rugged carry-out. (I was unable to respond due to other commitments.) You can read about the mission on Flagscanner.com: Mountain Rescue on Elden Trail

Also, on July 27th, SAR volunteers, myself included, will be giving a P-SAR (preventative Search and Rescue) presentation at Pinewood Camp. I believe we'll be working with kids ranging in age from 4 through 14 and will give them an introduction to SAR (what it's all about), teach them how to NOT get lost and what to do if they do get lost, basic map and compass use, and some hands-on show-and-tell about equipment (the ten essentials). We'll make the three-hour program as interactive as possible and are currently working on a plan for the afternoon.

Coconino County SAR members also gave a presentation on July 20th at a local church.

I'm told that interviews of prospective team members will begin shortly. Following interviews, new volunteers will take part in the Basic Search and Rescue Academy beginning this September, learning skills such as map and compass, GPS navigation, man-tracking, ATV operation, backcountry preparedness and safety, ICS (the Incident Command System) and more. Upon completion of the academy, new members will be put on the call-out roster and be able to respond to missions and ongoing training. If you're interested in becoming a search and rescue volunteer with Coconino County, you can fill out an application with the sheriff's department, but, at this point, you'll have to wait until next year's academy.

Way Over The Edge -- A Technical Recovery Mission

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 09:07:34 PDT

Horseshoe Bend (Colorado River) -- the site of our mission

Do you know how heavy 900 feet of 1/2-inch rope is? Neither do I, exactly. At least, not in actual pounds. But I've felt how heavy it is as I've tried to belay someone on the end of it. Actually, at the point where a stronger (male) teammate took over, when my arms were starting to shake a bit and the sweat was dripping off my chin -- it was about 100 degrees out there under the desert sun -- there was far less than 900 feet of rope already over the edge.

When my hands were free of the tandem prusik belay, I moved over to the main line and attached another rope to the 600-footer we were quickly using up (I tied the standard double fisherman's knot to join the two) and then maneuvered through the knot-passing when the time came.

And down, down, down our teammate went over the edge of the 1,100-foot cliff at Horseshoe Bend, retrieving evidence. That had been our assignment for the day -- to retrieve some items that had been spotted from the rim that were believed to belong to a missing person. But as that task was being carried out, things changed when our teammate detected something more than just evidence. It was intermittent and faint at first, so down, down, down we lowered him, communicating via radio, until he found the human remains.

As physically demanding, hot and uncomfortable as the task sometimes was for those of us up on top, we knew our teammate, who was on his own below the rim, had the most difficult job of all ... in more ways than one. Those of us tending to his lifelines from above frequently commented amongst ourselves about the long, grim task he was faced with.

Originally, the mission was expected to be fairly brief and wrapped up by noon. As it turned out, we didn't get back to Flagstaff until after 9pm. But we were glad to help bring closure to that search and the family.

Here are some photos from that day's long technical recovery mission near Page, Arizona....

The tech gear is loaded and ready.

An NPS ranger shows my teammate some of the visible evidence below.

We use the truck as an anchor for the main and belay lines.

Randy works the edge, keeping an eye on our teammate below and communicating with him.

The DPS helicopter drops a cargo net to our teammate for the recovery.

The helicopter moves closer to the cliff and our teammate's location.

Rather than raise Joel back up 900 feet, he's short-hauled to the rim.

In other Coconino County SAR news....

From July 5th -- Another find for the SAR dogs

I received this mission report from Cindy, the K9 handler:

"Last night at 2030 hours, the dogs were called out for a search on the San Francisco Peaks off the Weatherford Trail. We deployed from the center section of the trail, with the assignment of ascending to the summit starting at 2200 hours (appx 10,000'-11,000' elevation). After 3 miles and 1.5 hours of hiking, all 4 of my search dogs started to show alert signals telling me they were working scent. Each time they came to a specific point in the switchbacks we were hiking during our ascent, they would all begin to work up in elevation off trail then return to the trail. From this behavior, I was able to inform the strike team that I expected the subjects to be above us directly each time the dogs began to show their alert behaviors. Just another 2 switchbacks up, they all left the trail in a beeline straight up an extremely steep grade, cutting the next switchback entirely, directly to the subjects and gave simultaneous final responses. Both of the subjects were cold, shivering and wet from the light rain but, after some warming and a change of clothes, they both walked out with our strike team's assistance. They had no food, water, rain gear and the light they had was from their i-phone."

Two for the SAR Dogs - A Night Search on the San Francisco Peaks

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:34:29 PDT

There were two hikers, very dehydrated, lost with no lights and no other gear, and separated from each other. One of them had a cell phone and, luckily, a signal. He finally decided to call for help after hiking ahead of his friend, who could go no further.

They'd come up from the Verde Valley to hike to the summit of Humphreys (beginning at 3pm), but unbeknownst to them, they weren't actually on the Humphrey's Trail. Instead, they'd hiked down the Kachina Trail, away from Humphreys. At some point, they decided to go off-trail anyway and up, towards a different summit, but eventually turned back when their energy supplies and daylight started to fade fast.

At about 9:30pm, I heard SAR activity on the online scanner, so I knew the call-out was coming. At around 10pm it did, and I and five other volunteers, including one K9 handler with two search dogs, responded. In three pairs of two, myself with the handler and the two youngest of her four air-scenting Golden Retrievers, split up per our assignments and headed to our starting locations.

Cindy and I began hiking with the dogs from the trailhead at the Snowbowl ski area. Another pair of searchers drove down Schultz Pass Rd. and headed up the Weatherford Trail to intersect with the Kachina Trail from that end, and another pair drove down Friedline Prairie Road to hike up and intersect with the trail at another location. So we were searching from both ends and in the middle. I had a feeling, based on the information our Coordinator was given by the one hiker on the phone, that Cindy and I were closest to their locations.

And that turned out to be the case. About three-quarters of a mile in, the dogs alerted, and we soon had voice contact with the first subject. We found him sitting in the middle of the trail, in the dark. After thanking us for coming out, the first thing on his mind was water. He ended up drinking four liters before I eventually hiked him back to the trailhead. Other than being very dehydrated and hungry with a resulting headache, and a bit chilly (so I lent him one of my jackets), he was in good condition and denied needing medical attention. I stayed with him, while Cindy and the dogs continued up the trail to try to locate the second hiker.

The young man I was with told me that he'd practically carried his friend for a while, who was in worse shape. Finally, the other subject had said he had to stop and lay down, while the first guy kept going. At some point, he too had stopped, but the two remained in distant voice contact. That is, until the weaker of the two either fell asleep or passed out for a time. When he awoke, he later said, there was no answer from his friend. That's because his friend (the one I was with) had decided to try to keep going with the light from his phone. He'd made progress for about another forty-five minutes before he again had to stop. I believe it was then that he called 9-1-1.

DPS helicopters were not available to assist with the search, but a Guardian medical helicopter was able to come out. They didn't locate either hiker with their night vision equipment, but they did help in relaying communications for us once Cindy lost radio contact with me and with our Coordinator back at the Snowbowl trailhead.

Probably about a mile or so past where we'd found the first subject, the dogs again alerted, this time heading off trail, up-slope into a gulley. In the distance, Cindy heard the sound of the bells on the dogs' collars increase in speed, meaning they were running. Then she heard a bark, as one of her dogs will often do when alerting at night. Then the two returned to her, gave their other alerts--jumped on her--and took off back into the gulley as Cindy followed. Soon, as the dogs ran back and forth between the human they'd found and their handler, Cindy made voice contact with the second subject.

Thankfully, after he too rehydrated, the second hiker was able to walk out with Cindy and eventually met myself, his friend, and our Coordinator back at the trailhead. After all the obligatory information was gathered, some preparedness information given to the two subjects, and the second young man denied needing medical attention, we all went on our way. I was home at 3am.

Thank you to those super SAR dogs for making our job that night easier and faster. Had the second hiker been unresponsive, finding him without the dogs would have been a much longer, more difficult task.

Cindy and her search dogs on another mission.

A Search Under the Desert Sun

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:07:25 PDT

I was still searching -- looking left and right and sometimes behind me because you can miss things on the backsides of boulders and other terrain features -- but I also kept glancing ahead at that enticing little slice of shade in the distance, beneath the large rock's overhang. I would head to that slice of shade and stop there for a good rest with the two men searching on either side of me. We all needed it.

I was feeling cooked -- broiled, baked, sauteed and steamed. The air temperature was at least 100 F, but the sun reflecting off the sand and rock made it feel even hotter, right through the soles of my boots. I wasn't sunburned, though; the sunblock I'd already reapplied twice was doing its job.

My water and blue Gatorade was hot, and I was now doing more of a shuffle than a walk. Walking in sand in that heat can sure sap your energy.

(So, have I mentioned that it was hot? :-) )

Two members of Yavapai County SAR and I grid search in the desert.

We'd started searching our rather large segment a few hours before. We had plotted the UTM coordinates for the four corners of the assigned area then entered them into our GPSes, which were set up to record our tracks. Those tracks would later be downloaded by our Coordinator onto his mapping software. We drove up the highway to the southeast corner of our segment, spread out and began an east-west grid search, about a mile with each pass. There was a canyon on the western edge of our segment, which required additional effort to search each time we came to that end. We could see fresh ATV tracks in the sand at the bottom of that canyon, which had been searched from below the day before.

This was the second day of SAR's involvement in the search, with two counties now participating, divided into several field teams. We'd met up at 4am to drive to the search area and get an early start because of the high desert temperatures. The sun was intense by 8am. The K9 teams put special vests on their dogs that were soaked with water, and human searchers exchanged some gear for extra water bottles in their packs.

(In case you didn't know, it was hot!)

Shortly before I reached that coveted slice of shade, I overhead the K9 teams on the radio. They'd completed their assignment and the dogs were spent. Incident Command offered rides back in the Polaris for canines and handlers, and they readily accepted.

My search partners, both from Yavapai County, angled in towards my location and the three of us simultaneously dropped our packs and ourselves into the shade. We'd completed about half our segment by 11am. Another team reported that they too were taking a shade break before continuing to grid search their segment. We heard the lucky team on the river over the radio, doing their searching by boat and with a spotting scope. (But they deserved that assignment; both had been out there on foot and on ATVs the day before.)

After about 20 minutes of rest, my partners and I resumed our grid pattern, staying alert for the sound of rattling that could come from beneath any bit of brush or shaded bit of ground beneath a rock at any moment. We'd been told to watch out for rattlesnakes and scorpions, but no one reported encountering either one. I'm quite sure they were watching us, though.

There were all sorts of nooks and crannies where rattlesnakes could be hanging out.

Later that day, field teams converged back at base. The subject was (and as far as I know at this time, still is) missing. I can't give any details of the mission, I'm afraid, since it's an ongoing investigation, but I can point you to the brief missing person's report with the young man's photo: Police Search for Missing Page Man.

The search continued the following day, with members of our team's mounted unit responding.

And in other recent Coconino County SAR news....

Last week, I reported about the search in Grand Canyon for the overdue backpacker, who'd begun his hike on the North Rim. I'm happy to say that the missing man, William (Billy) Driscoll, was found on June 17th, tired and unable to each much but otherwise in good condition and good spirits. You can read about what happened in the Grand Canyon News: Overdue Hiker Found on North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

Coco. SAR also recently responded to a call for the carry-out of a hiker near the saddle on the Humphreys Trail, who'd fractured her ankle. Four search and rescue volunteers went up to the Snowbowl (ski area), where there was a fire engine and an ambulance already there. Two firemen and 3 personnel from Guardian had been deployed via a Snowbowl UTV up one of the ski runs to the base of a steep route that eventually connects with the Humphreys Trail at 11,400 feet. (We use this route as a short cut when subjects are located near or beyond that elevation.) Coconino County SAR took their own UTV to the bottom of the route and then proceeded on foot. By that time, the firemen and medics were already with the subject. SAR made good time, and when they rendezvoused with the others, they tied the patient into the Stokes litter and carried her up the trail a ways until they found a relatively clear area to descend. They attached a 300-foot rope to the litter and slowly lowered the patient. It took four evolutions to get the patient down to the Polaris Ranger. She and two Guardian medics rode the UTV to the ambulance, while the rest walked down. (Thank you, Randy M., for this information, since I wasn't on the mission.)

There was also a call-out to search for an overdue hiker in the Blue Ridge area, but SAR was turned around at Lake Mary when the subject turned up.

And last night at 7:45pm, as I was at a dinner party, there was another call-out for a litter carry near the saddle on the Humphrey's Trail, for another patient with a fractured ankle.

*******

For riveting search and rescue stories, outdoor adventure stories and more – check out sat tv programming, thanks to the sat tv deals from InternetLion.com.

Search for Overdue Backpacker on the North Rim, Grand Canyon

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:04:54 PDT

On Thursday, members of our Coconino County Search and Rescue team headed out to help the National Park Service with a search in the area of Sowats Point and Jumpup on the North Rim of Grand Canyon. Volunteers were told they needed to be prepared to be self-sufficient for 48 hours.

I don't know a lot about the search at this point, except that the 64-year-old, solo hiker was on a strenuous, multi-day trip including the Bill Hall Trail and was due out of the Canyon on Monday. After the Park Service was notified, presumably by family, that the hiker was overdue, they conducted some of their own investigation and searching before contacting Coconino SAR for assistance on Wednesday afternoon. I'm told that high winds have hampered aircraft searches in the area.

If the search continues beyond Saturday, I expect more requests for Coconino SAR's assistance will be made. My backpack is always ready, just in case.

******

In other Coco SAR news...

On June 8th, the team was called out to assist with evacuations and road blocks associated with a wildfire in the Turkey Hills area east of Flagstaff. This turned out to be an intentionally set fire -- make that fireS, because there were 14 of them (!) along a gas pipline -- which forced the evacuation of approximately 50 area residents and burned an unoccupied mobile home. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the fire was quickly contained by several ground crews and air tankers.

As the firefighting efforts were underway, a woman approached one of our team members at a road block. Visibly upset, she spoke to the SAR volunteer for several minutes, then admitted she was concerned that a family member had started the fires. Information was taken from the individual, and then SAR contacted the Sheriff's Office. In the early hours of June 9th, 20-year-old Obrian Wilson Kee was arrested and eventually admitted to starting the fires because he was upset with his girlfriend. See: Arrest Made in Hill Fire from the Arizona Daily Sun.

SAR also recently responded to three calls for lost or overdue hikers, on the same day. All were quickly located and in good condition.

We have a feeling this is going to continue to be a busy summer for Coconino County Search and Rescue, in part due to the fact that the White Mountains have been torched by the Wallow Fire, likely bringing more people to northern Arizona for outdoor recreation.

Coconino County Sheriff's SAR Called to Assist with the Wallow Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:51:12 PDT

It's now the second largest wildfire in Arizona history, having burned more than 486 square miles as of Tuesday (so more by now) and still moving 5 to 8 miles per day. That's almost as big as the city of Phoenix! 2,500 firefighters from several western states and some as far away as New York are working to contain the blaze, which is burning in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest near Springerville, Arizona. "The blaze has consumed 311,481 acres since it started May 29. It has been propelled by wind gusts of more than 60 mph." (Arizona Daily Sun)

Yesterday, our search and rescue team received a call to respond for an extended mission from Thursday through Saturday or Sunday, to assist with road blocks and perhaps other assignments in connection with the Wallow Fire. Our Coordinator said we'll probably be asked to do the same multiple times over the next few weeks.

See: Northern Arizona Fire Personnel Help Fight Wallow Fire, Others to find out who else is responding from Coconino County.

******

In other team news....

Last Saturday, several of us set up a booth at the Outdoor Festival at Mormon Lake, co-hosted by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and Mormon Lake Lodge. The day was filled with activities, including archery, fishing and horseback rides, and there were information booths from a variety of exhibitors and live animals from the Game and Fish Department's Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center.

The theme of our SAR booth was the ten essentials of hiking, with the ten essential categories being navigation, illumination, insulation, nutrition, hydration, shelter (which, in our case, was as simple as a rain poncho or an All Weather space blanket with grommets so it could be used as a tarp), tools and repair, sun protection, first aid, and (although it feels strange to say so right now, given the first part of this post) fire-starting.


Coconino County SAR members teach children and adults about the ten essentials.

We gave out P-SAR cards ("P" being for Preventative), which list the ten essentials and other hiking and preparedness tips. We also had examples of those ten essentials. On the one hand, we had a large Zip-loc baggie with a condensed version of these items, which would be an appealing size and weight for a lot of people, adults and children, who go for recreational dayhikes. We also had a few of our Search and Rescue packs, for more extensive examples of ten essential gear, which would be appropriate for longer hikes and/or more extreme weather.

A lot of children visited our booth, and they seemed to really enjoy going through the list on the P-SAR cards, reading off each item and then searching for it in the Zip-Loc baggie. Some wanted to see if they could lift my backpack. And some also got a little quiz. We ask, "If you got lost, what would you do?" and heard a lot of really good answers about ways to signal for help. Many eventually got around to the main answer we were looking for: sit down and stay put. Or "hug a tree" as we like say. We also asked the kids what they can do to prevent getting lost in the first place. (Parents seemed happy to hear that question.)

So it was a good day for SAR community education. We were invited to return to the festival next year.

A Body Recovery at Midgley Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 22:05:35 PDT

Midgley Bridge - Credit Flickr CC

I know it might sound cold: "body recovery." After all, just a short time before we arrived at the scene, that body had been a living, breathing man -- an 80 year-old man who, for some reason we weren't aware of, had made the decision to end his life. At about 8:30a.m. on Friday, June 3rd, a woman reported that she'd just received a call from her husband, who was about to jump from the bridge. Soon after deputies arrived, that man, who had already climbed over the railing, let go and fell about 300 feet to his death.

Our team has been to Midgley Bridge in Sedona's Oak Creek Canyon before, for the same type of mission. In fact, when the call is for Midgley Bridge, it's usually preceded or followed by the words "body recovery." Certainly not an easy thing to do in any sense of the word. But, speaking for myself, dealing with that grim task is made easier by the fact that I'm doing it with my teammates, who understand the range of emotions that goes along with it. And following such missions, which all of those volunteers present had been through before, "critical incident management" (basically, counseling) was offered to us, either immediately or at any time afterward.

While I have to admit that I'm okay with what I did and saw, I can't help but wonder about that man and why, after 80 years of life, he decided to leave it and in the way that he did. I can't imagine the feeling of helplessness, sorrow or perhaps something else that would drive someone to do such a thing. I hope he'll rest in peace.

A Busy Memorial Day Weekend for Search & Rescue and the CCSO

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:23:49 PDT

It was a three-day weekend with six calls for Search and Rescue ... that I know of.

Saturday started off with a missing dementia patient, who'd walked away from a home in Junipine Estates. The SAR team was called, but the subject was located by a passerby before searchers arrived. Deputies and one SAR member went to the subject's location to extricate him from the brush where he was sitting, and he was transported to the hospital.


Mooney Falls

Then there was the call-out for a technical rescue at Mooney Falls on the Havasupai Indian reservation. A DPS helicopter was en route when SAR was called, but it was unknown if high winds would prevent the helicopter from landing or doing a short haul in the canyon. So the technical rescue team headed that way from Flagstaff as quickly as possible, although it's a very long response time for ground SAR to travel that far. Luckily, the helicopter was able to land near the falls, and the patient was loaded without any technical rescue, air or otherwise, necessary. The SAR team made it all the way to the turn-off from Seligman before they were told to turn around.


Waterholes Canyon

Just after refueling the SAR vehicles back in Flagstaff and before getting back to the building, the tech team was told to head out of town again, this time to Waterholes Canyon just south of Page. The victim had fallen approximately 100 feet and was about 500 feet below the rim. Page Patrol deputies and Page Fire Department also responded, as did DPS Air Rescue, but it was decided that a helicopter technical rescue was not possible due to extremely windy conditions. The Coconino County Sheriff's SAR Coordinator requested additional assistance from the Park Service at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. With multi-agency cooperation, the victim and a paramedic who'd scrambled down to his location were raised to the rim, where a Classic Air Ambulance transported the patient to Flagstaff Medical Center at about 9pm. SAR personnel and Page Fire personnel then assisted the uninjured members of the canyoneering party from the bottom of the canyon to the rim. The CCSO technical rescue team returned to Flagstaff at 2am.

On May 28th, while the rescue in Waterholes Canyon was underway, there was a call about a lost hiker near Ashurst Lake. A Coconino County Sheriff's Office Corporal who is also an assistant SAR coordinator handled the call and conducted a hasty search. The Corporal successfully located the missing hiker.

The next morning, the Sheriff's office received a report of an accident at Willow Springs Lake, where a canoe had overturned. The victim, on shore at the time, tried to assist in a separate boat, which also overturned. From what I heard, the victim had called for help, went under, resurfaced and called again, and then disappeared. A deputy from Forest Lakes and the Forest Lakes Fire Department responded to the scene, and Search and Rescue was requested to assist with the search. Our SAR Coordinator arranged for the Coconino County Sheriff's Office Dive Rescue Team and members of the NPS Glen Canyon Dive Rescue Team to respond, and an underwater search was conducted into Sunday evening. The search was suspended at dark and resumed on the morning of the 30th. The missing subject was located deceased at approximately 4:00 pm on Monday.

Also on Monday at approximately 9:00 pm, the Sheriff's Office received a call of separated hiking parties on the Humphreys Peak Trail. Deputies responded and located both parties.

Read more about these and other incidents the Coconino County Sheriff's Department was involved with over the Memorial Day weekend at FlagScanner.com.

(SAR) Business is Picking Up

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Lauman) — Sun, 29 May 2011 09:12:11 PDT

Compared to past winters since I've been on the Coconino County Sheriff's SAR team, this last one was relatively quiet. Not nearly as many call-outs as the year before, for sure. But now that spring has sprung in northern Arizona, the calls are coming in more frequently.

After the successful all-night search in Sedona, there was another call-out just a couple of days later, this one for the rescue of three stranded hikers in Sycamore Canyon, at least one of whom was suffering from a heat-related illness. Eight SAR volunteers responded to the area, while a DPS helicopter was en route. The helicopter located the subjects and lowered food, water, and a handheld radio to the young men, the latter so Search and Rescue could keep in contact with them. They didn't have enough of a cell phone signal in the canyon to make a voice call, but one of them had apparently been able to send a text message to a family member, who had then contacted 9-1-1.

I was not able to respond to the mission that night, but I talked to a team member who was there and was told the hikers had run out of food and water and eventually light. With the one hiker being ill and without provisions, they'd been unable to keep moving. After being rehydrated and re-fueled by the DPS crew and later, when Search & Rescue reached them on foot, given more food and water and warm clothes, they were able to be slowly hiked out.

Here's a story from Examiner about the mission: Lost, Sick Hikers Rescued From Sycamore Canyon Near Sedona.

Then, yesterday, the start of the Memorial Day weekend, there were two calls -- one a search for a dementia patient and another for a technical rescue near Supai at Mooney Falls, which is down in the Grand Canyon but on Indian Reservation land, not in the National Park. I was on a recreational hike at the time, quite a distance from my vehicle and then a long drive from Flagstaff, so, again, I was unable to respond.

The first mission, however, was soon called off, because the subject was located and transported by EMS. I don't yet know what happened with the Mooney Falls mission, other than the fact that, when the call-out was made, a DPS helicopter was already en route. For those familiar with the area, you know that Flagstaff is a long way from Hualapai Hilltop, the trailhead down to Supai and, from there, Mooney Falls. Our response time would be very long. But I'll update you when I learn more.

And here I sit at home, listening to wind blow up to 65mph gusts outside my office window, hanging around doing computer work and reading until the next call-out comes in. If ... or, more likely, when it comes, I'll be going.