Search and rescue
27/05/19 04:43
I spend an evening a month and, depending on circumstances, sometimes a half day or more hanging out with the volunteers of the Pennington County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue Squad. Our County’s Search and Rescue Team is a group of about 25 very active volunteers and a few who are a bit less active. They hold weekly meetings for training and equipment maintenance. They become proficient with a large number of technical skills such as the use of ropes for ascending and descending cliffs and other steep areas. There are specialized dive and deep water rescue teams that are comprised of volunteers and professional firefighters and sheriff’s deputies as well. The Search and Rescue team has quite a bit of expensive specialized equipment such as jaws of life for vehicle demolition and rescue, air bags to lift overturned vehicles or to lift heavy objects that are crushing individuals, specialized vehicles for rough terrain and for deep snow, radio communications equipment and cases of matched mapping GPS units that track every area covered in a coordinated search. All of that equipment requires specialized and recurrent training.
These volunteers enjoy the training, to be sure, but what they really live for is the adrenaline rush of an actual emergency. The Search and Rescue vehicles have lights and sirens and there are times when they need to run “hot” to get to an emergency quickly. The meetings that I attend include a careful diffusing of all of the calls to which they respond each month. Many calls involve little direct action. The team is summoned and responds only to receive a radio call that the situation has been resolved and the team is no longer needed. Other times they will arrive at the scene and be able to provide a simple solution quickly. Some calls are more recovery than rescue. The team responds to accidents and incidents where the victim has already perished and provides the same professional and caring service removing a body and getting it to safety as they would give to a living person.
Some searches and rescues take days to resolve. Volunteers take time away from paying jobs in order to sustain the search. Some searches are never resolved. We currently have, in our county, a search for a missing child that has been active for more than three months. Specially trained dog teams from multiple states have been brought in to assist with the teams of volunteers who have conducted grid searches in very rugged terrain. There is still hope of finding some kind of resolution to the search - some evidence, some remains, some clue as to what happened. But the team knows that even the most thorough, careful and well-organized search can come up short. Some mysteries are never solved.
Everyone in the business of search and rescue, however, is encouraged and delighted with a recent search conducted on the island of Maui in Hawaii. A hiker who was missing for more than two weeks was found alive and rescued by helicopter. Members of our team have watched the YouTube videos of Amanda Eller being loaded into a rescue basket and lifted up to the helicopter to be transported to the hospital for recovery. Stories like this one sustain the searchers through many difficult and trying days.
The basics of survival are pretty simple. An average person can survive without food for a week, without water for a day and, depending on the weather, without shelter for an hour. Maui offers abundant opportunities for survival. The weather is generally warm, there are plenty of places to gain shelter from the rain. Rain is common and clean water to drink fairly easy to obtain. Edible plants abound. Survival is possible for a person who is able to keep their thinking straight. Maui County, like our county, has excellent collaboration between volunteers and professional first responders. In the search the volunteers were essential. Other duties called the professional first responders away from the search with a few days. The volunteers keep on searching with determination and commitment. The result in the end was success.
That story will provide inspiration for decades for teams like ours. We know that there will be searches that end in tragic discoveries. We know that not every story can have a happy ending like the rescue in Maui. But we also know that human beings are capable of great endurance and that there are cases when having the right people with the right skills can result in a successful outcome. The volunteers are motivated by the scenes of reunited families and rescued survivors.
We have a few stories of successful rescues from our team. They’ve descended by ropes into a mine in the middle of the night to rescue teens who pushed beyond the limits. They’ve extracted victims from automobile accidents for transport to medical care without further injury. They’ve found lost hunters. They know the positive value that a well trained search and rescue team brings to our community. They are rightfully proud of the work that they do.
Having a well-equipped team is expensive. Part of the funding comes directly from taxes collected by the County. Part of the funding is provided by donations from individuals and businesses. The on-going search for the missing child has produced a need for some equipment that will serve future searches for many years. The system works because many people become involved, some in small ways, some in larger ways. It is an imperfect system. Improvements can always be made. But the dedication of volunteers and the expertise of professionals combine in a very powerful way to serve our community.
It is an honor and a privilege to be allowed to spend time with the team. Each time I attend a meeting, I am once again impressed with the dedication and the spirit of volunteerism that is alive in our community. I hope and pray that you will never need a search and rescue team, but if you do, you can rest assured that they are working hard to stay prepared for whatever call may come.
These volunteers enjoy the training, to be sure, but what they really live for is the adrenaline rush of an actual emergency. The Search and Rescue vehicles have lights and sirens and there are times when they need to run “hot” to get to an emergency quickly. The meetings that I attend include a careful diffusing of all of the calls to which they respond each month. Many calls involve little direct action. The team is summoned and responds only to receive a radio call that the situation has been resolved and the team is no longer needed. Other times they will arrive at the scene and be able to provide a simple solution quickly. Some calls are more recovery than rescue. The team responds to accidents and incidents where the victim has already perished and provides the same professional and caring service removing a body and getting it to safety as they would give to a living person.
Some searches and rescues take days to resolve. Volunteers take time away from paying jobs in order to sustain the search. Some searches are never resolved. We currently have, in our county, a search for a missing child that has been active for more than three months. Specially trained dog teams from multiple states have been brought in to assist with the teams of volunteers who have conducted grid searches in very rugged terrain. There is still hope of finding some kind of resolution to the search - some evidence, some remains, some clue as to what happened. But the team knows that even the most thorough, careful and well-organized search can come up short. Some mysteries are never solved.
Everyone in the business of search and rescue, however, is encouraged and delighted with a recent search conducted on the island of Maui in Hawaii. A hiker who was missing for more than two weeks was found alive and rescued by helicopter. Members of our team have watched the YouTube videos of Amanda Eller being loaded into a rescue basket and lifted up to the helicopter to be transported to the hospital for recovery. Stories like this one sustain the searchers through many difficult and trying days.
The basics of survival are pretty simple. An average person can survive without food for a week, without water for a day and, depending on the weather, without shelter for an hour. Maui offers abundant opportunities for survival. The weather is generally warm, there are plenty of places to gain shelter from the rain. Rain is common and clean water to drink fairly easy to obtain. Edible plants abound. Survival is possible for a person who is able to keep their thinking straight. Maui County, like our county, has excellent collaboration between volunteers and professional first responders. In the search the volunteers were essential. Other duties called the professional first responders away from the search with a few days. The volunteers keep on searching with determination and commitment. The result in the end was success.
That story will provide inspiration for decades for teams like ours. We know that there will be searches that end in tragic discoveries. We know that not every story can have a happy ending like the rescue in Maui. But we also know that human beings are capable of great endurance and that there are cases when having the right people with the right skills can result in a successful outcome. The volunteers are motivated by the scenes of reunited families and rescued survivors.
We have a few stories of successful rescues from our team. They’ve descended by ropes into a mine in the middle of the night to rescue teens who pushed beyond the limits. They’ve extracted victims from automobile accidents for transport to medical care without further injury. They’ve found lost hunters. They know the positive value that a well trained search and rescue team brings to our community. They are rightfully proud of the work that they do.
Having a well-equipped team is expensive. Part of the funding comes directly from taxes collected by the County. Part of the funding is provided by donations from individuals and businesses. The on-going search for the missing child has produced a need for some equipment that will serve future searches for many years. The system works because many people become involved, some in small ways, some in larger ways. It is an imperfect system. Improvements can always be made. But the dedication of volunteers and the expertise of professionals combine in a very powerful way to serve our community.
It is an honor and a privilege to be allowed to spend time with the team. Each time I attend a meeting, I am once again impressed with the dedication and the spirit of volunteerism that is alive in our community. I hope and pray that you will never need a search and rescue team, but if you do, you can rest assured that they are working hard to stay prepared for whatever call may come.