Mounted search and rescue

["IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN" <ilichten1@verizon.net>]

I was the search manager for the first 18 hours. During that time we covered
the section of the state park where the subject's car was parked.  He was
reported missing 3 days after the car was parked there according to ranger
lock up reports (the gates are padlocked every night by 10 and tags of cars
left are recorded in patrol logs).  The weather was extremely hot and no air
movement.  The hasty teams found evidence of medical treatment at one point
that the park manager was unaware of and we traced that back to a
mid-afternoon search by local volunteer fire personnel who had a heat
casualty.
After 18 hours and indications by four separate dog teams that he had left
the area on foot we were 80% certain he was not there, or not there alive
anyway.  The handlers from out of state wanted to check an area about a mile
away because it had a "suicide overlook" (the subject was despondent but
didn't have gun).  Park management considered the area too dangerous to work
at night (about 3 in the morning actually) so we suspended.  I arranged for
support from the county EMA at the other site and the park let the out of
town people camp in.  GPSR's trailer was returned to station and radios put
on charge, generator fuel was consolidated, etc. I spent the night copying
maps of the area and returned in the morning to find that the overnight
placeholder had discarded all the notes from overnight and called out the
"entire world" to search what was supposed to be a 1 or 2 acre outlook. I
had my horse with me that day, gave the management team the maps, and rode a
task with a TROT person where the briefing was "go out there and look".
Despite the presence of the county mobile command post the staff insisted on
using a picnic table.  They did use the portapotties and canteen service but
had no way of communicating with personnel in the field from the PA DCNR,
state police, and about half the search personnel because they wouldn't use
the county supplied tactical repeater. Nothing (no clues) was found during
this additional 2 day effort. 

The subject was reportedly found in the original search area during the next
deer season approximately 20 feet above a deer stand in the trees.  It
appeared he had expired before he was called in as missing

My original request for out of area resources was limited to dogs from West
Jersey Canine and Mid-Atlantic as GPSR had only bloodhounds and a trainee
air scent available to supplement 2 horses and about 20 ground pounders, 3
state police units, and 4 park rangers and the park manager.   
I was the Search Operations Manager and I didn't ask for what showed up that
night.  I used what did as some requested resources scratched but what
happened after shift change was caused by people who didn't know what was
going on except that they had a multi-agency, multi-state opportunity to
punch tickets. They had no concept that a several thousand acre state park
was within walking distance of 3 bus lines, a commuter railroad, and the
Northeast Corridor, to say nothing of the state roads bordering and crossing
it.  

Our suspension criteria at the time, and for the most part still are, less
than 24 hours missing when dispatched, search to 80% coverage, no clues
found after 80%, suspend until something breaks.   

Our most successful tactic in finding lost adults was tracking their credit
cards, or their girl friends credit cards.  We got 3 from Coatesville VA
Hospital that way, and an adulterer at Heathrow on his girlfriend's. With
teenagers the out of the area section was called DisneyWorld on the probable
area map because of several area incidents. 

Irv Lichtenstein  
-----Original Message-----
From: msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of T'mi Fi
Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2009 8:57 AM
To: Mounted search and rescue
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Training, Technology and Stats