Commander’s Corner

I believe everyone that attended the SAR Academy in April learned a great deal.  Our presenters were excellent and class participation added to the learning process.  Thanks to all who contributed to this Academy.  

I’d like to thank Ira Gibel for the outstanding CPR class that was held at his home.  I’ve received many words of praise from participants.  Ira was a teacher for over 32 years and we are fortunate to benefit from his teaching skills.

Soon fire season will be upon us.  We can all be prepared to help by carrying an extra 5 gallons of water, a rake and shovel.  A fire extinguisher could be helpful also.  Using the rake and shovel you can remove fuel from the path of the fire.  Remember to use common sense and do not put yourself in harms way. 

Sgt Hudgens is planning to attend training next month in Arkansas to become certified to search from a helicopter utilizing Project Lifesaver equipment.  This is a three day course.  DPS Ranger helicopters will be used based on their availability during the time of need.   Sgt Hudgens is also in the process of organizing training material to be used to certify as many squad members that want to, on the use of Project Lifesaver equipment.  Training will commence as soon as possible on his return from Arkansas. 

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Stay active and stay healthy.

Dave Pirtle

Commander

 Don’t forget; the meetings this month are May 10^th  
for the Board and May 12^th for the General Meeting.

Guest Article

Laura         

In my almost 75 years, I have rubbed elbows with many people. Each of them either had an interesting story or knew of one. This story is one of an amazing test of the will to survive and the blind luck that made a semi-happy ending to a terrible tragedy. All of the people involved with this incident were my friends or people I knew or our girls who attended the high school at the time of this incident. The father and son Mike were very hard working, and well-known fisherman, with exceptional knowledge of the Sitka area. 

One October, after the close of the commercial fishing season, a young man and his fiancé sailed out of Sitka to have some time together. Father had turned the boat over to him only that spring. The fall weather was pretty nice when they left. The plan was to go south of town a few miles to a quiet back channel.

Now this boat was an Alaskan salmon troller. It was equipped with poles and reels just like a sport fisherman has except these poles were 40 feet long fastened to the hull and the reels were hydraulic powered with seven strand stainless cable lines. When trolling for salmon these poles often are broken. Many of the fishermen used Sitka Spruce trees for poles. The best way to replace them is to go out in the woods and cut one down, trim it up and you are back in business. Down time in any business can be costly especially when there is a season at risk. Therefore, this young couple was going to cut some new poles and haul them back to Sitka for sale at the marine hardware shop to pick up some extra money.

They anchored the boat in a quiet nook behind a small island away from the usually well traveled channels. They loaded a small dingy with tools to cut the trees with and a chest for lunch on the beach. Neither feared the short row to the beach, so they did not wear life jackets. Laura was on the high school swim team and very strong. The young man couldn’t swim a stroke. Then the unthinkable happened, the dingy dumped over. Laura managed to take hold of the hand of the boy but in his absolute panic, he fought her wildly. When she escaped his grasp, he went down. When she brought him back up, it was panic again. As the struggling went on, fatigue set in with both and the boy went down the last time. Laura struggled to the beach. She didn’t have the strength or the desire to go back in the water to try for the boat.

When the couple did not return, a search was launched. Nobody knew just where they had gone. The weather had gone bad and aircraft search was impossible through the fog-mantled channels. The anchored boat was not located for several days due to being well back off the usually traveled routes. Tides carried away the skiff and everything else that floated. Laura was in a very bad situation. Most of these small islands are the tops of mountains that had been carved by glaciations. The small cove where she landed was ringed with steep rocky ledges and impassable. Her only choice was to cross the island and get to the other side with hopes of attracting attention of a passing boat. So without warm clothing or raingear she started an impossible trek over the rocky ledges, over the top to another small beach on the other side. Nothing could prepare a young woman to bed down in freezing weather, on a bear infested island, soaked through to the skin.

Don is one of my best fisherman friends. He was a teacher, shop teacher, swim team coach, a diving instructor, and a very compassionate man.  He was often sent out by the insurance companies to determine why a vessel had sunk. Therefore, it was only natural that he organized all the teachers who had powerboats to launch a massive search of the area where the boy’s boat was located. His dive boat was a 17-foot Boston Whaler with a strong engine able to go fast and get in very close in to the rocky shore. Near the end of the last day of the search, light was fading and he made one more pass behind a pile of offshore rocks. He saw movement in an unusual pile of kelp heaped up against some logs. The search was over. Laura struggled to remove the covering kelp pile as Don maneuvered to the shore. Radios quickly told the basic facts and loss of Mike.

After more than a week without food except for a few frozen berries, freezing temperature, and soaked from fog, rain, snow, and climbing over the top of the mountain, Laura’s ordeal was far from over. Frostbite took some fingers and toes. Emotionally she had been drained. After a year she came back to graduate. She never competed again. Mike’s body was never recovered. Sometimes burdens such as this last a long long time.

John Boyles 510L         

 

************************************************************************

Another Alaska Experience

 

Same time, same station, nope. Same time but different station. I was stationed in  Alaska at the same time that John was up in Anchorage. My location was Clear Air Force Station, Alaska some 80 miles south of Fairbanks.

 

Time was March 27, 1964 again.

 

This was to be my last duty assignment in the U.S. Air Force as an Air Policeman as we were called back then. We were sitting in one of the barracks rooms playing a bit of Poker after a long Graveyard shift. Suddenly we began to get a strange feeling. We looked at each other, there were six of us, visually asking the other what was going on. I noticed that the clothes hanging in the open closet were swaying back and forth slowly. We all had sort of a dizzy feeling, not really dizzy just the strange dizzy feeling.

 

One of the guys who was from California said, “Earthquake, everyone outside.” We all headed out of the room into the hallway and towards the exit door. It was a very funny feeling as you had to hold on to the wall as you moved because you felt as if you were going to fall down. As we headed  out we banged on doors and yelled for everyone to get outside.

 

Shortly after getting outside the strange dizziness went away and everything seemed to be normal. We went back inside and called the duty office to see what was going on. They advised that there had been an earth quake that originated around Anchorage. There was a lot of damage and many people injured. I don't remember how many, if any were killed in the incident there.

 

There was little damage at the Station. A few windows broken or cracked was all that could be seen. However, one of the radar screens was later found to have been moved ¾ of an inch on the top corner. There were three screens sitting vertical, each the size of two football fields. The repair took three days to re-align the screen just that small amount. They told us that the radar was off 100 miles at the point where it started it’s pickup.

 

The Station is part of BMEWS, Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. There are three identical radar sites, Clear AFS, one in England, and one in Thule, Greenland. Those three sites have radar coverage for the entire top of the world. Since it has been 41 years since I was there I have no idea if the same radar screens are still in use or if they have been “modernized.”

 

The incident will always be with me as it is with John. We did not suffer near the damage that he had to endure but it still is vivid in my memory and will be so forever.

 

Bill Daily 573

 

For Sale

Rope gear, $200.00

Everything you need
Call for more info
Swede Carlson

                                                   468-2835 work,   476-6473 home,   595-3810 cell

 

Website

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

 

We are promoted and you’ll also find our newsletter on the

Rim Country Volunteer site;

http://www.inpayson.com/TRSAR-Payson-Rim-Country-Area.htm

 

May 2005 Training Schedule

 

12 May ( Thu. )  Line Search class – After the general meeting – Instructor Jim Martin

21 May (Sat.)   Rope Training – Time: 0900 – Place: Flowing Springs – Roger Miotto and rope instructors in charge