SAR Coordinates - May 2004
 

Individuals interested in joining Search and Rescue very often are concerned about their physical limitations but have a desire to belong and participate. They ask "Is there some way I can help?" The first thing that comes to my mind is fundraising. I’m not saying that the current members who are active in fundraising are limited in any way. I’m saying more individuals need to get involved in fundraising and this is a way for individuals with physical problems to help our squad.

Most prospective members and current members want the satisfaction of helping those who are injured or lost. This is what we do. But without successful Fundraising, the squad would NOT exist as it is today.

The Squad has a core group of individuals who are always leading fundraising efforts. For years Don and Pat Peters and Doug and Shirley Conklin have been the leaders of our fundraising events. More recently Tom and Mary Sanders have joined this elite group. Mary Sanders, who is not officially a member of Tonto Rim, has helped immensely by writing letters asking potential business donors for raffle prizes.

For most of us fundraising is not fun. It’s hard for most of us to ask others for money.

These folks in this core group are very good at fundraising, enjoy it and work very hard to generate the life blood of our organization, but they do get tired and discouraged without support from the rest of us. It is unbelievable the amount of work and time that goes into this task. I want to commend these individuals for their dedication to our squad. Please don’t take these people for granted. I encourage all of you to offer your help.

Stay active and stay healthy.

Dave Pirtle 507

Don’t forget; the meetings this month are May 11
for the Board and May 13 for the General Meeting.
 

By Jane Boyles

About fifteen years ago in late spring, Tonto Rim was called to help in a search for a two and a half year old boy lost in Pinal County, southwest of the town of Maricopa. The search speedily escalated to a multi-agency, multi county event as temperatures were warming and this little guy had been out overnight. He lived in a very rural sparsely populated desert area at the end of a dirt road. The desert there was typical sage brush, cactus and a few paloverde trees scattered about. He had been outside playing with his siblings when he disappeared. The hot desert winds were blowing steady and there had not been a rain for quite a while so the ground was hard and parched.

Searchers arrived the second day from nearly all of the counties in Arizona and parts of Utah, bringing sand-rails, ATV’s, dogs and horses. Over two hundred personnel had to be briefed, assigned and fed. The Salvation Army brought their mobile kitchen out, set it up and prepared the food. Civilian, DPS and military helicopters scoured the area back and forth, up and down. Teams were assigned to a grid pattern searching in all directions. There was a large wash beyond the Point Last Seen which was scoured by line searchers. Remember this little guy did not leave a very big impression on the dry ground. There was not a clue or sign evident outside of the house lot. Old soiled diapers found away from the home had been carried there by coyotes. Searing hot winds were present all day, dying down with the sunset. Due to these conditions it was real easy to ASSUME we were searching for a body. The team leaders had to constantly reinforce the FOCUS on finding the child alive.

The search went into the third day. Again the assignments covered the same grid patterns in a different direction expanding the perimeter even wider. Dog handlers were working at night due to the cooler temperatures and lack of wind. About 9:30 on the third night a dog alerted on a clump of bushes. The handler, seeing nothing, crawled into the bushes and located the child alive. DPS landed a helicopter and flew the child directly to the hospital where he was pronounced in good condition though dehydrated and sunburned. It would have been easy for the dog handler to dismiss that clump of bushes, disregarding a soiled diaper and bypassing that area without a thorough check. This area was more then a mile and a half southwest of the Point Last Seen and had been repeatedly been searched and was in line with the landing pattern of the helicopters. He was right at the edge of the statistical perimeter for a search of a child that size and age. Command personnel never lost FOCUS of the possibility of a 25 pound child surviving or being overlooked in that vast area. Knowing that statistically a helicopter observer only has a 13% rate of success, the area was repeatedly cross searched with different resources.

With the dedicated leadership in Command and the devoted effort of the field volunteers, this mission came to a successful conclusion. This search has been exemplary of the multi-agency cooperation that the State of Arizona SAR personnel have achieved with dedication, training and FOCUS. It is often used as a training example in lectures presented by SAR instructors. THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE.
 

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A while back the inscription on the metal bands used by the U.S. Department of the Interior to tag migratory birds has been changed. The bands used to bear the address of the Washington Biological Survey, abbreviated "Wash. Biol. Surv." until the agency received the following letter from a camper:

"Dear Sirs:

While camping last week I shot one of your birds. I think it was a crow. I followed the cooking instructions on the leg tag and I want to tell you it was horrible."

The bands are now marked "Fish and Wildlife Service".

Tonto Rim SAR Members can now have your very own email address through our site.
Just contact our Webmaster at Jack to arrange for it, no cost to you or us.
 

And we are promoted here, the Rim Country Volunteer site;
http://www.volunteerinpayson.org/vip/vip_volunteer_op.shtml

08 May (Sat) Man Tracking- Certification Field Exercise – Time & Location: TBA Jim Martin – in charge

15 May (Sat) Rope Training – Time: 0800 – Place: TBA –(Roger Miotto assisted by rope instructors in charge) interested people invited to attend

19 May Wed. First Responder 1800 @ Instructor Ira Gibel Residence

26 May Wed. Snowstorm ATV Exercise: Time 0900- Stage at: Supplies: Gisela Quad Map, Tonto FS Map, 15 interested people invited to attend Scales, Ruler, Pencil and Paper, Food , Radio ,batteries and water.

12 Jun (Sat) Man Tracking Classroom – Time: TBA – Place: Squad Bldg

19 Jun (Sat) Rope Training – Time: 0800 – Place : TBA – ( Roger Miotto and rope instructors in charge)

Planned Man Tracking Certification- Time and Location TBA- (in charge Les Hulse assisting J. Martin )

_________________________________________________________________________

Planned * Basic SAR Academy

* See following notes:

To reserve use of squad ATV , contact John Avery at 928-476-2106 or 480-892-4424

Jacket, gloves, boots, helmet, and eye protection required to operate Squad ATV

The following events are planned and we will need assistance from all possible to staff the booth at each;

The winners of the 2 survival packs at the Business Showcase on April 24th were:

David W. Luhm of Tonto Basin

and

Valerie Butkus of Payson.
 

Thanks to those who contributed to this issue of the newsletter.

Mike 502

oldfogey502@trsar.org