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msar-riders - Re: [MSAR] Night MSAR

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: Una Smith <una@lanl.gov>
  • To: Mounted search and rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Night MSAR
  • Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 10:09:10 -0700

Diane Whetsel wrote:
>I hope that he wasn't talking about Search Dogs SW ~ ~ ~ ~.
>We do, at times, feel the need to suspend search opps due to
>weather that is considered dangerous to the searchers.

No, the FC wasn't talking about you. He was talking about ICs
not starting searches until morning *because* weather was good
enough that the subject would not be at risk of dying from the
weather. But what if the subject is at risk of dying for some
other reason? I spent 4 days once searching for an AWOL field
companion in the badlands near Moab Utah, in high summer. The
mid-day heat was brutal; in that environment, night searching
was far safer for me, except that I was *alone* and spent much
of each day at a public phone box in a ghost town, calling BLM
offices etc. between my companion's point last seen in Montana
and our meeting point near Moab. Outside of "office" hours, I
searched every access track I could find into the badlands, to
look for his vehicle and read the sign-in books at trailheads.
I had to sleep and ended up doing most of it at night, when it
was cool (I was camped out in a dry wash). My AWOL pal turned
up at long last in California; he'd had a breakdown of sorts.
That was before I knew about formal SAR support mechanisms, and
I was discouraged by colleagues from calling the police. (Wow,
what poor judgement!)

But back to the main point. Yes, our job #1 is to stay safe.
#2 is to help eachother stay safe. #3 is to help the subject.

Una Smith
Santa Fe County Sheriff's Posse, in New Mexico




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