Mounted search and rescue

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

While the development density has increased the amount of park acreage has
remained constant or actually increased as farms are conserved and
watersheds around developments are dedicated to public use. Many of the new
facilities are linear in nature. The Perkiomen Trail Park is 22 miles long
by 24 feet wide with location markers every road crossing, trail juncture,
and mile.  And it is patrolled. 
There is a difference in usage in that we previously went looking for
walkaways from major residential/in patient facilities and their population
is down and most park users are carrying cell phones and the PSAPS have
Phase 2 location technology so searches rarely get have to get started.
Other areas are not being used.  Much of the Fairmount Park Trail system is
not as heavily used because there are no police or rangers in the park so
usage has concentrated on a few well marked routes.

The other day the fire company got a call for an auto crash and the location
was given as the cell tower next to the station.  Within 5 minutes the PSAP
was able to refine the location as being in the woods about 500 feet away,
about the same time as the ambulance was going past on its way to the cell
tower and saved a U-turn.

Historically, search in this area was conducted on public lands and often
was limited to federal or state reservations.  In one case that fence line
may have cost us a find.  In another it diverted a murderer into the hands
of the DA.  It may be quicker response by locals in some cases and no
response in others.  A lot of missing adult efforts are being limited to
pictures in the media due to lack of police resources.

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

I am familiar with the "out of towners" search you referenced.  I was 
under the impression that the search mission continued because there had 
not been a find.  According to our AAR it was the (local) Unified 
Incident Command (the AHJ who requested those "out of area" resources) 
wanted search operations to continue, not because the out of towners 
wanted to play.

One likely explanation for the reduction of search missions is your area 
could be due to the change in land usage. Excluding the NW region of 
your 90 mile radius and according to demographic conversion of land 
usage for that region; over 75% of the (privately owned) rural land, 
where wilderness types searches were once conducted in 1979, has been 
converted to mixed use urban and suburban properties.  

T'mi
www.trotsar.org

IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN wrote:

>On the public record there have been no field deployments of either the dog
>team or us since 2005 in the region.  There have been 2 cancellations for
>institutional walk a ways who were located by the fire company (same one,
>same institution) as they arrived. (.......)
>
>It is odd because from 1979 to 1995, the period for which detailed
>statistics were available in 2005, there were 12 field deployments per year
>in a 90 mile radius, lasting mostly from 18 to 36 hours initially.  One
>lasted 72 hours but this was primarily because out of towners were involved
>and wanted to play in an interstate, multi-agency environment. 
>


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