SAR COORDINATES
November 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
Commander’s
Corner
Jim
Don’t forget; the
meetings this month are Nov. 12th for the Board
and Nov. 14th for the General Meeting.
Leaders
and Legends in SAR
Jane
Boyles
Don Hornecker, Deceased
Don Hornecker was State Emergency Services
Director when I first met him. Don was a soft spoken guy
with a wealth of knowledge about Search and Rescue. I had
been to a NASAR conference and had been attending a pilot program
for the National Orthopedic Society on wilderness emergency
medicine. Don’s wife Nancy was my partner in the class.
I had gotten to know Nancy really well and discovered she and Don
had just married. She was from North Carolina and they had
met at a NASAR conference the year before. Because
this class was part of a pilot program to be used in colleges, we
got to critique the book and the methods taught. I was
honored. Don would sneak in every now and then and quietly
interject his thoughts and ideas. Nancy and I felt pretty
smug as we suggested his ideas and got all the credit!!!!!
Every big search would find Don quietly in
the background at command watching and directing. He had
been elected to the NASAR board of Directors and staid in that
position for several years. Arizona was well represented and
this enabled us to obtain some top notch professional instructors
and observers to the State of Arizona multi-agency trainings held
every year. This was the time when our state SAR
coordinators were created. Deputies from around the state
would spend a week with Forest Service, Game and Fish and other
leaders learning how to effectively lead us volunteers through a
search function. The students would spend the week in
grueling classes and then would run a mock search round the clock
directing the volunteers on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning.
The critiques were really interesting to attend as the
distinguished instructors corrected the errors in management
techniques. It was fun to listen to Don’s stories at the Saturday
night barbeques.
John and I were privileged to be a part of
these gatherings for several years, assisting the instructors in a
variety of ways. Don was another one in law enforcement who
semi-retired and stayed on in Search and Rescue as a part time
State Search Director until James Langston had learned his new
job. Don would come out on the searches with Nancy and their
motor home. No more roughing it. We all knew it was
just for the memories and socializing with his old friends.
Don and Nancy sold their home in Tempe and
retired to North Carolina to be near the children. Within
two years he had gone to meet the big Search Coordinator in the
Great Wilderness above. He truly is a
legend of Arizona’s past.
CHAMPIONS OF SAR
By
Jane Boyles
FOR SALE
For those
interested in Mountain Rescue;
all the safety equipment you’ll need to be successful.
CMC Pro Series Harness
Edge Kit w/ all accessories
Tote Bag including:
Carbiners
Figure 8
Steel Rings
Webbing
Safety Rope
Heavy Duty Outdoor Products Bag to hold everything
Valued at $452.12 …….. yours for only
$320.00
Call Fred at 928.476.4742 or email
fberneche@aol.com
FOR
SALE
1994 Jeep Wrangler 4X4, low miles
4 cyl, 5 spd, lift kit, 31” BFG
tires with American Racing wheels. 2 tops, 2 lock boxes and alarm
system. Nerf bars, receiver hitch and rear rack. Alpine
radio/cassette with sound bar & dual speakers. Warn 8000 winch,
high lift jack and rear cargo rack. Will throw in trailer to carry
a Quad. Price reduced to $8500
OBO. Call Don Peters; 472-7457
For Sale
1995 Wolverine 350 4x4 Yamaha very
good conduction.$3000.00. O.B.O.
1994 Timber wolf 250 4x4 Yamaha
$2000.00. O.B.O.
call Roger Miotto 476-5330, cell
978-0783.
Training Schedule
Scheduled Training Sessions
(current)
20 Nov--Wed
1900 hrs--CPR Re-certification--@ Ira Gibel’s house *
23 Nov—Sat
Ropes Training—Time and location to be announced
Planned
Line Search training—Les Hulse in charge
Planned
Tracking practice—all levels—Les Hulse in charge
Equipment Review
Whistle Wise
The lowly whistle is quite
possibly the cheapest and most important piece of emergency
equipment you could carry. But, are all whistles the same?
Backpacker Magazine tested seven
popular whistles using computerized sound meters; search and
rescue volunteers whistling systematically in different terrain;
and kids age 5 through 10 at a playground. Each whistle sold for
less than $6.00, all were acceptable but the multi-frequency types
proved to be most effective overall.
Experts say that your first
priority should be an easy blow rate; whistles that require strong
lungs may be difficult for children or injured hikers. After blow
rate, clear frequencies and loudness are most important. High
frequencies are recognizable over noise at a short distance, but
are not directional; they disperse, and as we grow older, our
ability to hear high frequencies diminishes significantly. Lower
frequencies are more directional and penetrate fatrher through
vegetation, but low frequency whistles are rare. Multi-frequency
whistles offer the best balance of distance and loudness.
The All-Weather Storm whistles
that most of our members use are rated at the top of the scale for
effectiveness.
Thanks to
Alicia Keller, New Applicant
for sharing this information.
Changes
One member
has resigned from the Squad;
Nelson Pierce has
taken employment that does not allow him the freedom to
participate at the present time. He hopes to rejoin at a later
date as he really enjoyed the Squad. Also he said “I
want you to keep me in mind if you ever need a place for trainings
or BBQs or whatever you need. My ranch is your ranch...”
Rescue Archives
A
newspaper article was shared by
John Avery
that I have taken the liberty of condensing to save space. The
incident took place in 1958 but still is relevant to modern SAR.
--Editor
In
mid-November 1958 three Boy Scouts froze to death
just a short distance from Josephine
Saddle in the Santa Rita mountains north of Tucson in an
unexpected blizzard.
A sign on a
redwood plaque erected on the trail at Josephine Saddle by Tucson
Boy Scout Troop 249 reads;
“Stranger, pause
here and remember David Greenberg, 12; Mike Early, 16; and Michael
LaNoue, 13 who passed to a better place.”
It still ranks as
the largest rescue attempt in Southern Arizona and possibly the
entire state. At one time, more than 700 men; civilian volunteers,
Airmen from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and soldiers from Ft.
Huachuca, scoured the mountain for the boys. They used four-wheel
drive and tracked vehicles, horses, bloodhounds, snowshoes, skies,
helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. In the first stage of the
search, because of the lack of an overall chain of command, the
massive effort was chaotic and disorganized. At one point, 7
soldiers became lost overnight and had to be rescued. Two airmen,
who had not been reported missing were marooned for several days
in a snow-choked canyon.
The tragedy
created a public demand for better search operations. A number of
skilled mountaineers were attracted to the newly formed Southern
Arizona Rescue Association (SARA), the first such organization in
the state. Eventually the state took over the operation and
control of all such missions.
The boys were
taking part in a hike to the top of 9400 foot Mount Wrightson,
commonly called Old Baldy, the highest peak in the Santa Ritas.
The scouts, on a warm sunny Saturday, were dropped off at the end
of the Madera Canyon road by Mike Early’s father. No adults were
on the hike because, like today, it was considered to be an easy
walk that could be completed in a day or less.
Setting up
their camp at the trailhead, six of the scouts delayed their hike
until about noon, still time enough to make the 8 ½ mile hike to
the top and get back. But, being in the deep canyon, they couldn’t
see the weather changing as an unexpected storm swept in from the
west.
At 7,000 foot
high Josephine Saddle, about 2 ½ miles from the road, the six boys
ran into rising winds and dropping temperatures. Decision time!
Three of them turned back, the other three, wearing only light
jackets, continued their trek as the first snowflakes began to
fall. It was the last time they were seen alive.
Evidence
showed they reached their goal—a Forest Service cabin on the peak.
But they apparently decided to try to make their way back down the
mountain rather than seek shelter in the building. At Josephine
Saddle, lost in the blinding snow, they turned left on the trail
to Temporal Gulch instead of right to the Madera Canyon trail.
They soon stopped, apparently realizing they were lost, and tried
to get out of the wind. They attempted to start a fire but the
snow prevented it and sometime during the night they all perished.
The search
was started the next day, a Sunday, when the other scouts woke up
in their sleeping bags at the base camp and discovered their camp
covered with snow. But it was several days before searchers could
fight their way through the drifts to reach the empty cabin on Old
Baldy. But the bodies of the youths,
buried under snowdrifts up to 7 feet deep, were not found until
Dec 4, 1958, nearly 3 weeks after they were determined missing.
Could
it happen again? Yes. People forget how soon Arizona weather can
change, and they tend to look on the easily accessible Santa Rita
and Santa Catalina mountains with their broad, easy trails as
something like a city park.
It can snow
in Arizona in March, April and even May and areas of higher
elevations can experience extreme weather changes in a matter of
minutes. Not only civilians but SAR personnel must be prepared for
any and all kinds of weather.
Thanks to all who
contributed to this issue of the newsletter.
Please continue to
share for the enlightenment of all.
Mike
