SAR Coordinates - August 2002

SAR COORDINATES

August 2002

TONTO RIM SEARCH AND RESCUE SQUAD
P.O. BOX 357
STRAWBERRY AZ 85544

A self-supporting not-for-profit group of volunteer citizens
dedicated to improving safety in the Arizona wilderness.

Operating under the authority of the Gila County Sheriff's Office
John Armer; Sheriff

Commander’s Corner

It’s now August and the monsoons have been a disappointment so far. What rain we’ve had has certainly been welcome. At least the Forests have been reopened and Les assures me that we will get back into some practical outdoor training. I can now throw on the pack and the boots and try and get back in shape.

On the subject of training, the August general meeting will be very short so that we can have a training session on blood-borne pathogens. The state now requires this training annually for all SAR personnel. Bill Battraw will be the trainer for this course; he is the same instructor that trained the South Gila County SAR.  This is an excellent opportunity to get this training which is not only required, but may save your life!

One last topic I’d like to address, and I know I’ve said it before, but each of us needs to go out and sell tickets. One fair in Pine has already been cancelled and the remaining two are in doubt. This means that we have lost sales at public venues and the only way to make them up is to sell, sell, sell on our own!

 I’m looking forward to more SAR activity, now that things are in a near normal state, and I hope you are too.

 Jim, TR4

Don’t forget; the meetings this month are August 6th for the Board

And August 8th for the General Meeting

Leaders and Legends in SAR

Jane Boyles

Fred Smith, Chief

Chugiak Volunteer Fire Department, Chugiak, Alaska

 By trade Fred Smith was a block mason and cement finisher.  A true Alaskan in the early days of statehood, Fred could keep things running with the proverbial baling wire and chewing gum.  Fred gave willingly of his time for free for the Fire Department.  He was responsible for building a cement block two-bay building to house the fire trucks. I first met Fred when I started working for Bill Knight Transportation.  Since I had a medical background and the office was across from the fire station, Fred's wife, Waneeta, thought I would make a good medic on the ambulance.  Being adventurous, I assured her I could do that.  Next thing I knew I was an engineer, driving fire trucks along with making the ambulance runs at all hours of the day and night.  That would not be too unusual, except the fire trucks were of the temperamental nature.  That is where Chief Smith came in.  Learning to drive a truck was no problem but learning to drive these trucks was something else.  Getting gears to mesh was a feat in itself.  He was a good instructor and often the mechanic along on the way to the fire.

 In those days Search and Rescue was under the direction of the Air Force.  But they needed ground people and the Fire Department and the Alaska State Troopers were those ground people.   Besides our survival packs, a compass and  topo map was about as technical as we got.

 Like everywhere else, searches always started in the middle of the night.  Now in Alaska in the winter, that could be a very long time period.  Our call out system was kind of old fashioned; the telephone with a conference line.  Clothes hung by the back door suitable for anything from an ambulance run, to a fire, to a lost Indian  making his way by foot from town out to the reservation.  For some reason we had few searches for lost children in those days.  Maybe that was because an Alaskan kid learned at an early age how to survive in the wilds and find his way home.  Because of the great distance to be covered, the Air Force flew H21 helos and C123's without the sophisticated heat sensing equipment of today.  We did have snow machines and our jeeps had dual wheels on the back to drive over the tundra in the summer.  Some of the more ingenious volunteers had old Dodge military trucks with large aircraft tires on them. If a hunter got lost, he eventually made his way out to a cabin.  But if he was injured, it could be a sixty mile hike for his partner to call for help.  Fred was such a great mechanic, fixing broken down equipment with a few spare parts and simple tools, and this was often the case in the mud a long way from the nearest highway.  Downed aircraft were a continuous problem.  Weather often played a factor.  Senator Nick Begich, a good friend of the common people and Senator Hale Boggs of Louisiana were never found when their plane lost altitude over the Chugach Glacier Field.

 Today's Alaskan SAR teams are well trained and well equipped. Most of them are NASAR members.    However, they still have to deal with the elements.  More and more of the SAR activity is done by civilian volunteers though the Air Force still plays a large part in covering the vast wilderness.

.Jane Boyles

Member News

Thanks to everyone for your cards and kind thoughts to Don and I on the passing of his parents.  It was very hard on him, but he is now accepting it well as he knows they had a wonderful life.  We will be back in the swing of things now and will gladly accept any ticket money you can muster up.  Our fire and general economy has put a dent in our sales, but hopefully the monsoons will come to our rescue here soon and we can make up for lost time before Sept. 22 and the fair.  We REALLY APPRECIATE and are happy with all of the help so far, hope you all know that.  Let's work for some more profit though...

 Patt does more than callouts and pushing tickets...I make Antique Reproduction dolls and dress them.  I have quite a collection and you are welcome to come see them anytime.  Don loves yard work, working with rocks, he wants to do a fountain with circulating water next.

The County has changed the communications call signs for their officers. Please take note.

 L300 Shepherd; 301 Ratliff, 302 Havey, 302 Birgham

 S310 Smith; 311 G. Scott, 312 T. Scott, 313 Neff, 314 Lee, 315 White, 316 Baltz, 317 Bylina, 318 Karowski

 S320 Wade; 321 Cronk, 322 Slider, 323 Spychala, 324 Kerszykowski, 325 Moss, 326 Bonney

 S330 Hudgens

 We also have been issued a new number system. Instead of the TR in front of our number, we have a 5 which designates TRSAR to all GCSO members. A current roster with these numbers is attached. Please use the correct number when using radio communications.

Member Profile

Doug Conklin 534

Doug was born in January 1933 in Winterset Iowa.  It was 22 below the day he was born, at least that's what his Mom said.  Doug says he doesn't remember that.  Doug was drafted in 1953 and was stationed in New York when he met his wife Shirley on a blind date.  They have four children.  The oldest is their daughter, followed by three boys.  All the kids live in Phoenix.

 Doug worked for Allied Signal in Phoenix for 33 years in Quality Control.  When he retired he had two homes; one in Phoenix and another in Yarnell.  He put them both up for sale and which ever sold first was where he was going to live.  The Yarnell house sold but he didn't want to live in Phoenix, so he moved to Pine AZ.

 Doug met Johnny Boyles who prompted Doug to join SAR.  Shirley met Vynette in church and she also encouraged them to join SAR.  Doug joined in '99 and Shirley joined shortly after.  Both Doug and Shirley are very active in the Squad especially with Fund-Raisers.  Doug is our Equipment Officer as well as a Topside Tech. member of the Rope Team and also has a Quad. Shirley helps with the call-out and anywhere else she is needed.

 The Squad is lucky to have them both on our Team.

Training Schedule

Aug 8: Blood Borne Pathogens; At the General Meeting, Bill Battraw, Instructor. State mandated training.

  Training Sessions will be announced at August 8^th General Meeting

Musings

 Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat.

That is also true of SAR members on the trail. Be sure you have proper footwear!

Roster