7-11         GCSAR Mock Thingy Disaster Bros.
7- 24-28     NPS Search Management Training Haynes
7- 27    GCSAR River Rescue- going with the flogiston Eddy Current
8- 8         GCSAR Summer Picnic, Details galore PennyLaurenJennieAnn
8- 24 GCSAR ATV Skills, Map, Compass, GPS Sam, Lee, Frank, Bego
9- 12        GCSAR Mock Thingy      Jeff
9- 16        NPS         Arches NP- Rock Rescue- Guidelines and... Hary Gaynes
9- 28  GCSAR Basic Survival by Improvising, Cunning
10- 10 GCSAR Helicopter Operations if one is here
10- 26 GCSAR First Responder Recert Kenny Allred, et.al.
11- 14 GCSAR First Responder Recert "
11- 28 GCSAR 4th TUES- First Responder Recert, Nominations "
12- 12 GCSAR Winter Informations and Elections

LET SOMEONE ELSE COME TO FIND YOU

2000- J-2 F-4 M- 9 A-13 M- 14 J- 7 [49]J- 3 A-2
1999- J-1 F-1 M-15 A-4 M- 11 J- 8 [40] J- 6 A-9 S-9 O-13 N- 7 D- 2 [86]
1998- J-0 F-1 M- 5 A-18 M- 15 J- 3 [42] J-10 A-2 S-4 O- 9 N-3 D-1 [71]
1997- J-4 F-6 M-10 A- 8 M- 16 J- 9 [53] J- 4 A-6 S-5 O- 9 N-8 D-0 [85]
1996- J-4 F-5 M- 2 A-12 M- 14 J- 7 [44] J- 5 A-5 S-5 O- 6 N-9 D-4 [78]

10-22d shortly after we mobilized. Subject showed up at his campsite.

Comments:
Responders: Jeff, Frank, Sam, Nancy, Shawn, Matt, Sam, Lee, Jennie

00- 51 7- 9- 00 Sandbags for the Flood

It rained really much. Go to the County Yard and fill sandbags.

Comments: It rained really extra much.
Responders: Sam and ??

GCSAR training: Mock Disaster by Brad, Kenny, Archie 7- 11- 00

The call out was simply a set of UTM coordinates. SAR people had to figure out where the event was happening and then go find out what was happening.

It turns out, there was a rock climbing fall victim about 45 feet down a cliff face with lower back pain and a possible broken leg. Steve T-Berry Young was Ops for the set up of a high angle technical rescue system. Jennie became the litter attendant and FLopez went down the wall to help with packaging the victim into the litter.

The victim then revealed that his buddy had gone for help and must have gotten lost so SAR members sent out two tracking teams.

Comments: Another fun outing of problem solving by the Disaster Brothers.

00- 52   7- 23- 00   Plane Crash Recovery

Clint Ford and Earl Redfern crashed almost in the bottom of Mineral Canyon. Clint was the pilot, had just turned 21 and had just earned his pilot’s license. Earl was a well-known base jumper with just over 1,000 jumps. They were in a small plane with not much power, deep in a canyon on a hot summer day.

For 4 days, many airplanes, some private, some Civil Air Patrol, went looking. On day 3, Steve Rugg flew in with the Dept. of Public Safety helo. On day 3, the helo and crew flew up and down Mineral Canyon alot and saw nothing. On day 4, the wreckage was spotted in Mineral Canyon. It was found that day simply because the light was different.

836 was called to be the helo LZ director at the request of the pilot, Steve Rugg. Steve White and Curt Brewer went into the wreckage to recover the bodies which had been there 4 days.

Comments: It is important to remember that when you go looking for aircraft wreckage you may not be looking for an airplane. In this case, what was spotted was a small bunch of burned metal.

Responders: Bego, Frank, Brad, Sam

From Colin Smith- fell off the Island, drifted downstream, came ashore at Lees Ferry

A hello from the old coordinator-- from Lees Ferry.

This sure is a different gig, I haven't done any real SAR stuff since I got here. I get to do a lot of boat patrol, and I talk to a lot of fisherman and river guides.

It's quite a different experience to work the ramp at Less Ferry. Every day I contact people as they head out on their trip to the Grand Canyon. For them it's a once in a life time experience.  For me, it's just that day's trips. And they keep coming, every day.

We are running at a steady 8,000 cfs off the dam, so the river is pretty low. That wouldn't be much of a problem, but we run a metal boat with a jet drive. It makes a pretty hollow clang when it hits rocks (or so I've been told).

It's been hot since I've been here, over 107 most of the time, as high as 113, and pretty consistently in the 110 range. It makes doing any outdoor work pretty hard, as you fade quickly.

I really enjoyed working with everybody in GCSAR, you all are a great group. Maybe we'll get a chance to do it again sometime.

Colin Smith

P.S. I was sorry to hear about Earl Redfern, I didn't agree with him a lot of the time, but I liked him and appreciated his lust for life.

Nancy and Shalla are featured in an article by Carol Wells in the August Moab Happenings.

Operations- Rex Tanner     Planning- Gary Haynes      Logistics- Corky Brewer

Rather than present the official account, I asked people to write their somethings: [Thank You]

Larry Van Slyke Search- The Ultimate Mystery

The Jeff Firak search began as many searches do: 8/01/00, about 2200 hours, a report of a missing person, deployment of searchers to the point last seen, hasty search of the most probable areas and securing the perimeter of the search area. The only problem was that the victim was not found. It wasn’t that clues to the whereabouts of the victim were not located; his bike was found early the next morning. The victim still remained MIA. The search area effort grew on the next day with a multi-agency response. Speed was of the essence due to the 100° F plus daytime temperatures.

ICS was implemented. POAs were developed and search teams, tracking teams, dog teams and air support were employed to clear the areas. About 1700 hours on 8/2/00, barefoot prints were found along the creek in Negro Bill Canyon, headed downstream. It was unknown at that time that the victim had discarded his biking shoes sometime after discarding his bike. However, since no other fresh prints were found in the creek bottom, it was suspicioned that the footprints belonged to the victim.

On 8-3-00, the victim’s biking shirt and shoes were found. The location suggested the victim was moving toward Negro Bill Canyon (NBC). A sweep of NBC downstream to Highway 128 was made with negative results. The next day, 8-4-00, the victim’s glasses were located and his barefoot prints were tracked to a pour-off overlooking NBC, directly above the location where the barefoot prints were found on the 2nd. Another sweep was made in NBC downstream to SR 128. Again, with negative results. During that sweep, 1T5 noted that he used to run cattle into and out of NBC in a drainage that exists to the south. Since there was no evidence found of the victim in the lower reaches of NBC, the supposition was that the youth had abandoned the creek to hike out; destination: Sand Flats Country.

The next morning, 8-5-00,teams were airlifted to the top of the suspect drainage. Nancy May found a barefoot print in short order. A Grand County tactical tracking team took over and trailed the victim for an estimated 3 miles, then lost the track. At the same time, a San Juan County tactical tracking team, who had started their search efforts at a location further west, located the tracks about 600 yards from where the GC team lost the track. Those tracks were subsequently followed to the victim who was located about 1050 hours. His body was within about 15-20 feet of the Fins and Things road.

Lessons learned: Expect the unexpected. No one thought the victim would leave the creek once he reached it. But, he did. Had he stayed at the water he would most certainly have survived. The sizzling temperatures precluded the use of search dogs after about 1100 hours. Trained trackers are extremely valuable in the search effort, and should be employed as quickly as possible to preclude contamination of the search area by throngs of search personnel. If possible, shut down the search area to non-search personnel, ie., those recreating in the area. Without the logistical support provided by ICS, the searchers in the field could not have continued to the lengths they did due to the hostile heat environment. Hats off to all those folks who manned the IC post and kept the food and drinks coming to the field. It was great to see the brainstorming that went on amongst the searchers to try to determine where the victim was. It eventually paid off. Unfortunately, it was too late for Jeff.

Doug Squire

I feel the one thing we learned is expect the unexpected. I think we all went into this thinking that it was impossible to get to the other side, and if anyone got into the bottom they would go down canyon.

I personally think the operation went well. It is still a process and it takes time to go through the process. With the extreme heat and terrain you could not just send anyone into the field. All resources were used the way they needed to be.

One thing we need to look at in the future is when do we turn it over to the trackers and keep other people out of the area so we don't destroy tracks, tough call to make.

My hat goes off to those who searched and to those that managed the command center, excellent job!!!

Brad Mallory

I was there on Friday and Saturday and was very impressed with the way things were run.

I think that what we have been trying to put together has come together. Every person that was there did a great job. I think we learned alot. The training that we offer to our group of SAR members has really paid off.

I am very proud to be a part of this group.

Jim Webster FROM NPS- Arches NP (UT) - Search

On August 1st, a 13-year-old boy from Woodstock, Illinois, was mountain biking on a backcountry trail outside of Moab (and directly across the Colorado River from Arches NP) with his father and other members of a youth group. He biked ahead of his group, took a wrong turn, and became lost in very rugged desert canyon terrain. An initial search was conducted that night by county SAR team members; it proved fruitless, so a major search was begun the following day. The NPS was asked to assist and contributed 18 employees to the effort.

The incident involved well over 100 people from numerous local, county, federal, private and volunteer organizations and received significant regional media attention. Arches and Canyonlands employees worked as trackers, ground searchers, dog team members, aerial searchers and support staff in plans, logistics and communications. Ranger Gary Haynes was the plans section chief. Environmental conditions were a major consideration, with daytime temperatures reaching 110 degrees, steep canyons, and rough and rocky terrain. The search continued until mid-day on August 5th, when trackers found the boy's body about two-and-a-half miles from his abandoned bicycle. There were no injuries or heat-related illnesses during the operation despite the prevailing conditions. [Jim Webster, CR, Arch]

John Flahie: The Jeff Firak SAR - A View From Camp Moab Valley Fire Protection District

"Impressive." That’s how I described my take on the operation to Rex Tanner as I left the CP on Saturday morning about an hour and a half before Jeff was found. And it was. This thing evolved from being run on the tailgate of Tanner’s truck to a full-blown Incident Management System with something like 100 people, 8 search dogs, 3 helicopters (at once!), a fixed wing, numerous jeeps, motorcycles, bicycles, feds, stateies, trackers, medics, orgos, rangers, climbers, bureaucrats, reporters, cops, businessmen, sprocket heads, ground pounders, office pogies, river rats, politicians, experts-in-their-field, hippies, firefighters, churchgoers and just plain folks who put their lives on hold to look for some lost kid from Chicago. Seeing the diversity of people involved was like looking Moab in the eye and understanding who we really are and what we're made of when it really matters.

This incident was like no other that I’ve worked. I’ve been on long Type I & II deals in the wildland fire service. With wildfire, you can see your objective every day. You don’t have to hunt for the fire. It’s right there in front of you. The fire stares back at you and becomes banal. But this SAR gnawed on me and I was a whole world removed from the troops on the ground. I could only see with my mind’s eye what was going on in the field: The Heat. The Sweat. The Fear. The Struggle. The Hunger for finding Jeff. The mental fortitude and personal integrity you people in the search business have is mind-numbing. How easy it would have been for you to say "I already looked over there" and nobody would have known the difference. Except you and Jeff. But you knew that Jeff was still "out there" and that you WOULD NOT STOP until you found him. That’s what was really "Impressive." With a capital I.

When it was over I went back to "the world." That was weird. I went to the grocery store on Saturday afternoon and ran into a guy who knows me and what I do for a living. He knew I would have the scoop on what happened.

"You been looking for that kid?", my friend asked.

"Yeah. Well, I worked in the command post."

"Did you guys find him yet?"

"Yeah."

"How is he?"

"He didn’t make it," I said.

My friend started crying right there in the aisle. That’s the kind of town we live in. Here’s a guy who never knew the kid’s name. Never saw the kid’s picture. Never talked to the kid’s dad. Never watched the kid’s family and friends rally and hug each other and say, "They'll find him." But he grieved for this stranger. It hurt him that the kid died all alone in the desert. He’s the kind of people who donated stuff and time and beat the bushes and prayed for this kid they never knew to get found and go home.

Have you ever seen the old Grand County Ambulance patch? It really symbolizes the kind of people who went looking for a lost tourist kid in the desert one week during the summer when it was 108 in the shade. In the middle of the patch, surrounded by a big, red heart, are two words:

"We Care."

1T7: No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.