JoCoSAR Blog

Coos County SAR: Police search for woman

From Staff Reports
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 |

The Coos County Search and Rescue Team is looking for a 31-year-old Coquille woman who went missing Monday under suspicious circumstances.  Jayme Austin called her mother, Cindy Gisholt, who was at work Monday morning and told her she didn’t have any water at her home, 59288 Fairview Road.

She asked to go to her mother’s place to take a shower before going to work in Coos Bay. At noon, Gisholt got a call from Austin’s employer, who said Austin never showed up for work. Gisholt went home and found her daughter’s car parked outside her residence, 59376 Fairview Road, but Austin was not there, nor at her home down the road.

Deputies responded and activated the Coos County Major Crime Team. Officers and crime lab workers inspected both Gisholt’s and Austin’s homes, and spoke with neighbors.

Austin is described as Caucasian, 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing 135 to 150 pounds.

Anyone with information about Austin can call the Coos County Sheriff’s Office at 396-3121, ext. 371, or Coos County dispatchers at 396-2106.

Dry Feet—A Very Good Thing

There is nothing like a search, real or mock, to test our preparedness for our job.  This Saturday's exercise was a serious test for how well I was keeping my feet waterproof.  It didn't rain very hard, but all of the ground and foliage were wet.  I expected my footwear to handle that without any trouble.  But acting as a K9 flanker for Ann McGloon and Connie, her indefatigable trailing dog, made the dry foot test far more challenging. 

That dog is 10 years old, pretty senior for a Sussex spaniel, but Connie has lived the life of a trained athlete and she is still a very fit dog.  She ran almost nonstop from 0935 to 1230, up and down as well as on the flat without taking a drink or looking winded.  

More to the point about keeping my feet dry, Connie went right through all the road-covering big mud puddles (some took 4 long strides).  I got around the edge of a few of them, but she looked like she was swimming across some of them.  I had to just resign myself to stepping into water well above my boot tops.  As this was happening, in the first hour or two in the field, I worried about how my feet would hold up to being wet for hours on rough trails. 

Despite several wading events, I found my feet dry when I got home.  Who would have bet that that was possible?  I had on thin wool liner socks, a heavy wool/synthetic outer sock, Gortex boots and over all, velcro-fastened OR (Outdoor Research) gaiters that came up to just below my knees (the gaiters certainly don't claim to be waterproof when immersed) .  Perhaps the overlapping of synthetic trouser over the boot tops held in place by the gaiters helped.  Considering my expectations for wet and raw feet at the end of the day, finding dry feet seemed a miracle. I used to consider gaiters just an aid to keeping brambles out of my boot laces and socks and an extra layer to minimize poison oak exposure.  These gaiters are now very high on my must carry list.

Share what you learned to do or use, or not, here.

Road Search Callout: Missing 3 Were Found Before Deployment

Monday morning we received a callout to look for "3 hunters" reported several hours overdue about 0100 this morning.  One of the missing people was said to be an overweight woman "on oxygen" who was not expected to have traveled far.  The LKP was near Graves Creek in Douglas County near where Josephine County abuts Douglas County.  

We were asked to perform a road search on the Josephine County side of the search area.  Ten SAR members responded and were just deploying when the call to stand down came.  Apparently, the 3 missing people are OK.  

Mock Search: One K9 Team's Experience

By AnnMcGloon  (see great APRS track records below)

Yesterday’s mock-search exercise was an excellent training experience. I was pleased with how my dogs worked just as I made a mistake or two which afforded me the opportunity to learn more about being a better K9 handler.

 The search was very realistic in many ways. I was assigned to start w/my trailing dog, Connie, from the LKP to see if we could determine a direction of travel of the "three live missing persons." So, I brought Connie over to the car, opened the passenger side of the car (the side the planners wanted to be opened; remember this was a pre-planned exercise) asked her to take scent and I also collected a scent article from the subject’s car; there were several items on the passenger seat of the car including a pair of socks which I chose to use as an article if I needed to re-scent my dog while out on the trail. Connie immediately went to work and started up a very rutted dirt road with water filled pot holes so deep that she had to practically swim through one of them, my flanker and I wading through the muck following. Connie continued to work along the lower road, checking a couple of times down near the river where scent could have blown. She continued for about ½ mile before turning upslope through the trees and bushes toward the upper dirt road. Before we hit the road, however, she turned again into and through the manzanita and we entered an old mining area. This old mining area is fascinating with large rock tailings, ravines, and scrub brush. The exposed rock many shades of gray and red.  At an open spot, Connie circled a couple of times before committing north again. As we got closer to where a feeder road drops into the mine tailings from the upper road, Connie’s body language changed indicating we were getting close. We next found ourselves on the bottom of a 50-75 foot pile of smooth water washed rocks; Connie headed up the rock pile as Kate and I watched our every step so as to not slip, twist an ankle, or worse. When we reached the top, Connie took us down toward the river and then we hit some impenetrable blackberries. I felt that we were close but she just couldn’t figure it out and, in hindsight, I should have worked her back to the south and closer to the river, an area I didn’t adequately “see” at the time.

 After again reaching the upper road, Connie continued north along the main dirt access road. After about 1/4 mile, I could tell she had lost the trail. I should have taken her back into the mining area one more time but as we were close to the campground at the far end of the road, I suggested that we go into the campground area and work her there and see if she cuts a trail out of the campground. Sure enough she did pick up scent and started taking us upslope toward Faye’s Gulch. At this point I started to doubt her a bit as I knew other searchers were in the area although she didn’t appear to be paying them much attention. I’ll never know what would have happened as it was about this time that we were called to return to command for another assignment.

 First though was a thorough debriefing in the comforts of our old Army bus. I suggested, based on what Connie was indicating, that a ground team needed to search the northern end of the mining area more thoroughly. Sure enough, a team was sent into the area, and the car’s owner, Greg, was found. (the graphic shows the subject’s location in relation to our path through the area, the wind direction, and the terrain features).

 Kate, as my flanker, and I then headed back out on another assignment. I first switched dogs, as this was a training problem for Beryl, one of our team’s air scent dogs. After picking up scent, Beryl headed directly toward the subject along the 1600 contour line, the exact way the subject had entered the search area. We were in and out of the area in about 45 minutes. 

 After the search exercise was over I discovered that the socks that I collected from the subject’s car were not even his but those of a family member, had been laundered the day before and had just been sitting in his car overnight. And, Greg had gotten a ride up the dirt track for the first 1/4 mile! The second subject, Brian, had placed his baseball cap in the car and had begun his hike to his hiding spot in Fayes Gulch! by walking up the lower dirt road. The third subject did not leave any scent articles in the vehicle and was the person located by Beryl in an area southeast of the LKP. I have no doubt that Connie was working both Greg (the car’s owner) and Brian’s scent trail (probably sometimes interchangeably) as she headed north in the correct direction of travel of both subjects…doing what a trailing dog does best.

 Thanks to Shari, the rest of the overhead team and Sheriff Gilbertson for this invaluable training experience. 

Mock Search Succeeds

We had a good turn-out on a damp and cool Saturday for the mock search.  Everyone congregated at the command base-camp at the green bridge spanning the Illinois River by Eight Dollar Mountain.  The scenario was that we would be looking for 4 subjects missing over night in what would be the second operational period, i.e. after the preliminary hasty search had been done.  About 12 teams were put into the field to find the "missing"subjects.  The sheriff was on site before 8AM and stayed through the final debriefing which he led.  

This was the first coordinated mock search that integrated the dive team with the posse, ATVs, K-9 teams and ground pounders.  All 4 subjects (the subject in the river was a dummy) were all located.  The terrain was challenging with rocky steeps, scree, and mammoth mud puddles on the dirt roads.  

There was one injury.  One of the horses sustained a cut that looked as though it would require sutures.  The humans faired better.  Everyone in the field got a good workout and the overhead team kept things running quite smoothly—especially when you consider that with the exception of Anne Larkin running command coms, the overhead team was made up of all first-timers.  The bus worked out well as a quiet and warm place for Linda Friebus to debrief returning teams out of the way of the overhead team.  As always there were a few unexpected challenges and there are always a few things that, with hindsight, we realize could be done better, but that is why we do these exercises. 

There are more photos on the blog photo album here and there will be more stories about the search to come.

    

  


 

Oregon AG targets Search & Rescue Scam

KDRV Staff
 
September 29, 2009
 
SALEM, Ore. - 

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger is cracking down on scammers who claim to be raising money for search and rescue teams.
 
A State Department of Justice investigation uncovered evidence that a Washington-based group known as 'A Growing Concern' repeatedly deceived Oregonians, including false claims that donations would support local search and rescue efforts.
 
The settlement prohibits the companies from operating in Oregon for at least three years and requires 'A Growing Concern' to pay a total of $5,000.

I guess the scammers chose SAR as their "cause" because they thought it was the kind of cause people would want to donate generously to.   Wish we could recover the money they scammed.  After all, the people did donate their money to search and rescue. ;-)

Cyclocross At White City This Saturday

Cyclocross will be at White City this Saturday, November 7 and next Saturday, November 14.  This is a great spectator event for all ages.  If you will be busy at the mock search this Saturday how about encouraging your friends and family to check out this great SAR fund raiser?  Don't let a little weather deter you—the muddier the better for the riders and the spectators.  Jana Jensen, owner of Cycle Analysis (a bike shop) in Jacksonville, sponsors 5 cyclocross races each year and donates the proceeds to SAR to commemorate her son, Nick, who drowned in the Illinois River several years ago.  Help Jana help SAR.  Wear SAR stuff to let the riders and Jana know you appreciate them.

Where: White City, Southern Oregon Speedway.  Go in the speedway, turn left, go through a gate and drive to the shooting range to find the race course (they won't be shooting).

   

High-Tech Night Rescue of Geocacher In WA

News story about a night rescue using night vision goggles.  [King County includes Seattle.]

Modern treasure hunt ends with nighttime rescue

By tara ballenger      November 4, 2009

In a high-tech search to find buried treasure, a hiker fell as far as 30 feet while bushwacking off trail in the Gifford Lakes area Oct. 24, injuring his knee and requiring an emergency night rescue.

Fortunately, the global positioning system he was using to find the cache allowed him to tell the King County Sheriff’s search and rescue crew his exact geographic location.The hiker, 43-year-old John Murphy of Pierce County, was geocaching when the fall occurred, King County Sheriff’s deputy Richard Barton said.

Murphy was taken to Overlake Hospital in Bellevue and has since been released.

Geocachers use GPS units, combined with clues usually found on online forums, to find small containers buried under dirt or rocks. Inside the containers is a logbook and several small souvenirs and trinkets for the participants to take and trade.

After injuring his knee, Murphy called search and rescue on his cell phone around 7 p.m., Barton said.

Because it was a nighttime rescue, it took about two hours to assemble a five-person crew. Each crew member used night vision goggles, which provide high visibilty but allow wearers only 40 degrees sight range, said Barton, who led the team.

“Night hoist evolutions are one of the most technical things we do,” he said.

The King County Sheriff’s search and rescue team received its night rescue certification in July. Saturday was its second actual night rescue.

Murphy had head lacerations but told rescuers that he had not lost consciousness, Barton said.

Because he was unable to walk for three hours before the crew arrived, hypothermia had started to set in, and he was shaking, according to Barton.

After splinting his leg, rescuers helped hoist Murphy to the King County Sheriff’s helicopter in a rescue harness. Eastside Fire & Rescue then took him to Overlake Hospital, which reported that he has been released.

Barton said that even though Murphy was off marked trails, he was extremely prepared.

“To his credit, he was well-equipped to be out there,” he said. “He was well-outfitted with lights, a full cell phone battery, materials to make a fire and the GPS. “

Tara Ballenger: 392-6434, ext. 248 or tballenger@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.SnoValleyStar.com.

How To Search For a Personal Locator Beacon Signal

Most of us have heard about the personal locator beacons (PLBs) hikers can use to help searchers located them in an emergency.  But do you know how to search for that beacon signal if you are one of the searchers trying to reach the hiker in distress?  Here is info on one locator device with strategies from the company on how to search for the signal. This post is NOT an endorsement of this product (thought this product is endorsed by SASAR).  This is info on the search implications for devices like this one. 

Method 3 is an air search so was omitted, but is available on the website of this company.

Search resumes Tuesday for man swept down Sandy River

[Map is "live" and can move and show map, sat or ter functions.]  

View Larger Map

The following is a press release from the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office: 



Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Marine Patrol, American Medical Response and Sandy Fire Rescue personnel have responded to the Sandy River for a reported water rescue. 

On Saturday, Oct. 31, at 2:31 p.m. rescue personnel were summoned to the Sandy River, near Mill Creek, when a witness reported that a man and a boy were swept down river while attempting to forge this section of the Sandy River.

At 2:45 p.m., responding rescue personnel reported one of the two missing - a young boy - had been located. The boy is reportedly safe and was found about 300 yards downstream from where he and his older male companion initially went into the water. 

Rescue personnel have set up a search operation in the area of 39800 Southeast Fish Hatchery Road in Sandy, Ore.

Search and Rescue personnel continue scouring down stream to locate the missing older male adult. The adult was last seen being swept downriver on the Sandy River, near Mill Creek.

Additional information will be provided as soon as possible.
 

UPDATE: At 4:25 p.m. Saturday Clackamas County Swift Water Rescue Consortium members were recalled from the Sandy River search "due to impending darkness," according to a county press release.

According to the release, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office has summoned a Search & Rescue Coordinator to the Sandy River. The coordinator will assess the ongoing rescue effort to locate a 55-year-old man still missing. Witnesses report the man was swept down the Sandy River earlier Saturday.

A 16-year-old youth also was swept down river. However, he has been located and in good physical condition. 

A chaplain has been summoned to the scene to assist this rescued youth with his emotional needs. 

Emergency Life Flight also participated in this search effort to locate the missing 55 year old and provide ground personnel with information from the sky.  

Land-rescue crews apparently are being called in to search along the river banks for the missing man.
 

UPDATE SUNDAY: At day break on Sunday the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office's search mission resumed along the Sandy River. An estimated 25-member search-and-rescue volunteer group scoured the Sandy River's banks. Volunteers came from Pacific Northwest Search & Rescue and Mountain Wave Communications.

Police now say that the missing man was swept down river while attempting to "forge the river while fishing with his 16-year-old son."

The son of the missing fisherman also was swept into what police said was a "swift-moving current." The son "was able to self-rescue an estimated 300 yards from his initial entry point into the water," according to a sheriff's office spokesperson.

Additional water rescue efforts are being run by the Clackamas County Swift Water Rescue Consortium, represented today by Sandy Fire, Clackamas Fire and the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.

The group was hoping for assistance from a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter today, which had been summoned from Astoria, but KATU is told that that the flight was "delayed due to inclement weather conditions at the Oregon coast." Reportedly, the helicopter will fly up to help if weather conditions Sunday afternoon.

The morning search covered a 4-mile stretch of the Sandy River, from Cedar Creek downriver to Dodge Park. The next step is to search from Cedar Creek to Ox Bow Park - a total of 13 miles.

KatU.com, Oredonlive.com