SAR Coordinates - January 2003
SAR COORDINATES
January 2003
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 has now been a whole
year that I have had the privilege of serving you as Commander.
Looking back, it has been a good year, albeit short on missions.
The cooperation and help that I’ve received has been nothing
short of phenomenal and I cannot thank you, the members, enough
for the success that we have achieved. Our membership is at an
all-time high and the new members appear to be of high quality
and sincere dedication. There have been some shortcomings on my
part that I hope to correct in the coming year along with the
implementation of some things that have been in the works in the
recent past. We now have the new slate of elected officers in
place and are setting up the various committees needed to carry
on the Squad business. If you would like to serve on any
committee to help the Squad out, please contact me soon. If I
tap you on the shoulder to serve on a committee or to do a
special job, please don’t let me down!
As most of you realize, I
place considerable emphasis on training. It is my belief that
training is where we learn and missions are where we execute; if
we learn something on a mission, we aren’t properly trained. I
also believe that training should not only be educational but
also entertaining and even fun. This year, I’ve asked the
training coordinator’s to work toward that goal so that we
have more participation and as a result, a better trained Squad!
We owe that much to the public and to the Sheriff’s Office that
we serve.
I hope you all have a very
good 2003 in all your endeavors, your SAR participation and your
personal lives. Happy New Year!
Jim
Don’t
forget; the meetings this month are Jan 7th for
the Board
and Jan 9th
for the General Meeting.
Radio Reprogramming
Gila County has now changed
over to the new repeaters and radio frequencies. If you have a
Squad issued radio, it needs to be reprogrammed. Please contact
Bill Pitterle (468-8685) or Jim Martin (472-7211) to make
arrangements to get it done. The SAR frequency does not change
so radios can still be used on missions, however after
reprogramming it will be channel 11 instead of channel 1. We’d
like to reprogram the Vertex and Standard radios first. If you
have a personal radio for Squad use, we will help you get it
programmed so that there will be no cost to you.
Leaders
and Legends in SAR
Jane
Boyles
COMMANDER EMERITUS
TONTO RIM SAR
The name is a whole lot more
formal then the man. Mike has been around Search and
Rescue for a long time. He took his Life Membership in
Tonto Rim last year. This kind of lets him semi-retire,
but you will often see Mike doing the newsletter for the squad,
appearing on a search or helping out when he can with fund
raisers and other time consuming activities. You see, Mike
has a business to run also and at a time when most people think
about retirement he and his lovely wife Ellie are raising an
active young grandson.
I met Mike when I joined Tonto Rim many years
ago. At that time there was a group of active teenagers
and Mike was their leader. They were essentially our rope
team and were also active and good man-trackers.
Mike has always been a big advocate of
education and one of the first things we did together was get
certified as National “Hug-a-Tree” instructors at a NASAR
conference in Phoenix. He and his wife Ellie and I would make
the circuit of the Forest Service campgrounds giving “fireside”
talks to the campers. We knew that the
“Hug-a-Tree” program did not exactly fit our situation here and
because we had to agree to abide by the national guidelines,
Mike created the “YES” (Youth Education for Survival) program
geared to this area. This program is complete with a
slide show and trained instructors. Mike then expanded
this program to the adult level, again with a group of
instructors and a slide show.
As Commander of the squad,
Mike was very innovative with training and leadership. The
squad increased in size many times over. We went from the
‘Cowboy Breakfast’ fund-raisers to big time money makers.
He formed good committees and led them to create a tremendously
professional group of trained and certified rope rescuers and
man trackers. He was instrumental in monthly training
sessions using modern techniques and professional gear and
equipment. There is no doubt in my mind that the State
of Arizona, the surrounding counties and the Gila County
officials began to look on Tonto Rim as Search and Rescue
personnel they could count on, not only to respond when needed,
but to respond in a very professional way.
Mike is first and always a
family man and a true and sincere friend. Mike was twice voted
community Man of the Year by the citizens of Northern Gila
County. J. Michael Taylor is truly representative of the
words from the past—“One of a Thousand Points of Light” – a
dedicated volunteer.
LOCAL WEATHER
Courtesy of Bill Pitterle 566
http://wjpitterle.mystarband.net/weather/wx.htm
FOR
SALE
RESCUE ROPE GEAR
1.
Large coleman back pack bag
2.
1
small carry pouch
3.
1
white blue water safety helmet
4.
1
Petzl harness (Falcon)
5.
1
upper body harness
6.
1
figure eight
7.
6
beaners
8.
1
twist and lock beaner
9.
4
presics (assorted lengths)
10.
2
double presics
11.
2
eight foot straps
12.
1
small personal pulley
13.
200
foot static rope
$200.00
SWEDE CARLSON
476-6473
For
Sale
For those
interested in Mountain Rescue;
all the
Rope equipment
you’ll need to be
successful.
CMC Pro Series Harness
Petzl Helmet
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
$7500
OBO. Call Don Peters; 472-7457
For Sale
Memory Card
Brand new, still in package,
64 MB Compact Flash card for digital camera.
I ordered wrong type by mistake.
Cost to me was $40, + shipping.
Will let you have it for $30.00.
476-4947 or
myknle@starband.net
Mike Taylor
Training Schedule
Scheduled Training Sessions
(current)
9 Jan, Thursday
Pack Peek—after the meeting.
All veterans
are encouraged to bring their packs so that some of the newer
members can check out pack styles and contents in order to make
the informed decisions and also so that the more experienced can
share what's new or better that they may want to change or
include.
11-12,
18-19 Jan Rope Cert Class Squad
Building—Time to be announced.
This is a full 4 day course.
Applicants need to attend two regular training sessions prior to
this class.
22 Jan, Wed.
ATV-Trailbike Training 0830 Hours—meet at Rye bar (John
Avery in charge) Full 8 hour day, bring water, lunch, GPS,
warm clothes, etc. and survival supplies.
Planned
Line Search training—Les Hulse in charge
Planned
Tracking practice—all levels—Les Hulse in charge
Member Profile
Don Johnson 562
Don was born in Mesa in
1949. Graduated from Phoenix Union High School and then
received a Commercial Arts degree. Right out of High
School he started working for Motorola and stayed there until
retirement 29 years later. At Motorola he worked at
reclaiming and processing gold. He also did gold, nickel,
tin, silver and copper-plating. The last 10 years at
Motorola, Don was a Maintenance and Process Technician.
Don married Diane in April
of 1996. They just recently opened DJ’s Beds Baths and
More, which is located in the Rim Country Mall.
Don enjoys Motorcycles, Quads, Hunting and Fishing. He
spends a lot of time making and building things. He has
built Harleys, racecars, mini bikes and trailers. Don has
also raced cars at Manzanita Speedway and Canyon Raceway.
Don learned about S&R from
a PR release in the paper. He came to a meeting and liked
what he saw. Don has attended many training sessions prior
to becoming a member and has been very active ever since.
We welcome you Don and are
glad you’re with us.
Changes
We have ONE new member
this month!
556 Jim Duffy
of Pine
Our annual ELECTION is complete and we
have a couple changes. Vice-Commander Elect is
Dave Pirtle. Treasurer Elect
is Anita Carnine and Board
Member-at-Large is John Boyles.
Due to Dave Pirtle’s new position, the position of Secretary is vacant.
Commander Martin will be looking to appoint someone to fill that
position. If he asks you, be ready to step up to the plate. Or,
before he asks, if you would like to take on the challenge,
don’t hesitate to say so. We LOVE volunteers!
The Arizona Republic has chosen to do away with the AZ-Neighbors
website concept as of Jan 1st.
Fortunately, we are in the process of having our own website
built. Bill Pitterle has volunteered to head up this project,
but he would like some assistance. Bill Martin has offered to do
that but there is room for others if you have the time and some
computer knowledge.
We had checked in to having it done professionally and it is not
financially feasible at this time.
Stay tuned for developments on this.
SAR Archives
It was Mothers Day weekend
about 1990 when we were called on Sunday afternoon to Four Peaks
to assist Maricopa County for a rescue of two hikers who had
been partially buried and injured in a rockslide.
The story as we got it was
that three young men had been hiking the trails around Four
Peaks on Sunday morning when they decided to leave the trail and
hike to the top of a large rock outcropping. At some point in
their ascent, the top person dislodged a key rock which started
a small landslide of some very large rocks, 2-3 feet in
diameter. He and the 2nd person in line were hit
extremely hard, but the 3rd in line was down far
enough to avoid most of the material and received only abrasions
on his legs. When the dust settled, he attempted to render
first-aid to the other two whom he determined to be unconscious
and partially buried. Unsuccessful in trying to revive them, he
set out for help. When he arrived at the Lone Pine Saddle
parking area, he found another party that transported him down
to the Phoenix area where he called authorities and then was
taken to a medical center for treatment of his injuries.
Due to his unfamiliarity of
the mountain, the directions he gave MCSO were sketchy and hasty
teams sent out failed to locate the two subjects. The rescue
mission turned into a search around dark Sunday evening and
continued through the night. The clear, brisk day-rescue became
a cold, windy all-night and early morning search with no results
until around 11:00 AM Monday when a rancher named Cline from
Tonto Basin who had joined the search as a concerned citizen on
horseback, noticed the path of a couple large rocks that had
rolled down the mountain side and crossed the trail. He
dismounted and hiked up the slope, following the path blazed by
the rocks. He soon found the two subjects and called base
camp with the news. Both were dead and the mission now became a
recovery.
The incident was on the
Gila County side of the mountain and so Maricopa County pulled
out leaving our people to accomplish the recovery. They did,
however, send their Fox 1 chopper to assist.
When all the SAR members of
our team assembled at the incident scene, we were about twelve
in number and had two bodies to package and carry down a 45
degree rock slope full of mesquite and cat-claw. The two bags
were extremely damaged in a short distance and when we were
informed that Fox-1 was enroute, we asked for two additional
body bags. He was unable to find a suitable landing zone,
so he dropped the two bags to us, we placed the subjects, bag
and all, in the two new bags and then he was able to do a hot
landing on one skid on a rock out-cropping while we placed a
subject in the backseat area. He transported the first subject
to base camp and returned for the second. We loaded him in the
same manner and then were cleared to walk back to the trail and
on in to base.
If accomplishing the
mission is the only criteria, then you can say that this was a
successful mission. We did get them off the mountain. And no
searchers were injured.
However, there were many
things learned from this experience.
One; many searchers from
both counties had passed this spot on the trail in both
directions but none had noticed or detected the clues of the
rock slide. Keen observation can minimize the time factor and
maximize the probability of success.
Two; any time we are called
out, we need to be totally prepared to spend whatever time it
takes to complete the mission. Any incident can escalate and
require us to do more than we originally anticipated. Having the
proper gear with you at all times can literally save your hide,
not to mention just being more comfortable.
Three; seldom does the
reporting party give a full and accurate description of the
subject or their situation. These two men were killed instantly,
and were not buried, but the third man was in a state of shock
and consequently unable to comprehend or analyze their
condition. There is not much we can do to allay that type of
problem except to allow for it and operate under the assumption
that there are facts we don’t have and we will have to fill in
the blanks with good deductive reasoning and superior search
skills.
We do learn something at
every mission, but it should not be the things that can be
learned at trainings. We learn people skills and logic every day
of our life. When you quit growing, you are dying. And you can
not possibly live long enough to learn everything you need to
know by experience. Attend trainings to learn from those who
have been trained and have more experience.
See you on the Trail.
Mike
Thanks to all who
contributed to this issue of the newsletter.
Please continue to
share for the enlightenment of all.
Mike
