At the last Cal MRA meeting, Bob Gattas of West Valley SAR offered to compile a frequency database for the region's teams. A number of teams still need to complete the form. It can be found at CalMRA Frequency Database Entry Form.
San Bernardino County MRA teams need NOT complete this form.
Effective immediately we have implemented a standardized procedure for registering for all of the Search & Rescue Courses hosted by Volunteer Forces (BSAR, BMC, PVS, TRBC, etc).The procedure will mirror the process that has been used for years to register students for the Basic Search & Rescue Academy. The student will fill out the SAR Course Registration Form and forward it along with a $50.00 check to Volunteer Forces. The $50.00 check will serve to hold the student's spot in the course. The $50.00 check will be returned when the student completes the course. This standardized process along with posting the dates of the trainings 12-18 months in advance will help Volunteer Forces better plan for training needs and schedule instructors.
The SAR Course Registration on the DOCUMENTS page. The dates of all of these trainings through the end of 2010 are currently posted on the calendar.
NOTE - NEW MEMBERS MAY NOT PARTICIPATE IN ANY TRAINING UNTIL THEY ARE FULLY SWORN-IN (they are not sworn-in until they have received their Orders and Sheriff's Identification Card).Please do not have new members attempt to register for a course before they are fully sworn-in, their paperwork will not be processed.
Technical rope rescue is one of the more involved activities in which a SAR team can participate. Staying proficient requires regular team and individual practice. 12 students just finished a 7 day Ropes That Rescue course taught by Reed Thorne. There were three days of classroom presentation followed by four days in the field. Rim SAR, West Valley SAR, San Gorgonio SAR, Wrightwood/Phelan SAR, SB Mountain SAR, and the Cave Team sent students to the course.
The callout for a search for a missing hiker in the Mt.
Baldy area came in around 1900, just as we were beginning classroom training on
Map & Compass. Everyone packed up
and left the station, most to head home for their equipment and return for the
rigs. All three vehicles departed the
station around 2000 with 5 members. Other
members were in route from Station 12, and several were responding POV. Staging was established at Baldy Fire.
The Department now has a new mission-ready Area/Wilderness Search Dog Team. A member of the SBSD Search Dog Team, Kola, a Golden Retriever, and I took and passed our final wilderness dog test to become field certified. The final test covers 160 acres with two "lost" subjects placed somewhere out there, and must be completed within four hours.
I want to thank my teammates on the Search Dog Team. Without all their training help and expertise, we would never have made it. Kola in no way is replacing my dear Laddie, but now I have a dog to fill Laddie's shoes when he retires. He has taught Kola everything he knows!
We look forward to working with everyone on the next call-out!
Last year West Valley SAR and the Cave Team were unable to complete their technical rope re-certification with the Mountain Rescue Association due to a search on Baldy. The make-up exam was scheduled for a few months later, only to be canceled due to the fires in L.A. County. The third time is the charm.
The day started with a coin toss to determine who was the "host team". The evaluators wanted to run the test like a mutual aid mission. That is, the host team had requested resources, the mutual aid team would work alongside under the host teams command structure. West Valley "won" the toss and became the host team.
Coroner case 700903045 VN: On Wednesday, May 6, 2009, at about 10:00 AM, 49 year Rancho Cucamonga resident Murray E. Carver left his home ride his motorcycle in the hills north of town. When he did not return that afternoon searches were initiated along the trails he was known to ride. The following day (Thursday, May 7th) at about 11:00 AM, Sheriff Aviation located Carver’s body along a winding trail approximately 3.5 miles north of Chaffey College. An examination will be conducted early next week to attempt to determine the cause of Carver’s death. [05/07/09 1915 VN]
Wednesday started out like any other work day - up at 0500 hours to shower, feed and put the dogs out, grab breakfast, and hit the road for the office. Likewise, the end of my day seemed just like many others - off work at 1600 hours, home to pack up my search dog for a training, and back home about 2045 hours. By then, though, the pager and cell phone were calling me! Deputy Falce was on the phone asking if I was available to join others on the team for a search in the Lytle Creek area. Of course I said “yes”!
This weekend San Bernardino Mountain SAR, Wrightwood/Phelan SAR, and Rim SAR sent members to complete the Technical Rescue Basics Course. The first weekend was spent in the classroom and with practice. The second weekend included two days of field work in addition to a written exam and practical skills check-off.
The Technical Rescue Basic Course began last weekend with classroom instruction and field work at Glen Helen North. Keep watching SBSAR.ORG for updates.
East Valley Mounted Posse hosted the 2009 County Wide Mounted Search & Rescue Training on Saturday April 18th at Wildwood State Park in Yucaipa. The day began with all of the Mounted Search & Rescue Units meeting at the CP for a short Briefing Training courtesy of Mike Ward. The members were then broken up into three composite teams and assigned to one of the three different search scenarios in the park.
We met each other for the first time a month ago. We were twenty-four students in all from all over the county, from West Valley abutting the Los Angeles County Line, all the way out to Needles on the Arizona border. We were all from different backgrounds, some young, some a little bit older, with different specialties we each were aspiring to. The one thing we all had in common was the desire to become part of the Search and Rescue community, and to work as part of that community in helping society in a rather unique and challenging way. Basic Search and Rescue Academy was to be the beginning of our own individual Search and Rescue stories.
Congratulations to the graduates of the Sheriff's Basic Search & Rescue Academy, Class 01-2009! All 24 students who began the Academy on March 6th graduated last Sunday morning.
Their final weekend began Saturday morning at 0730 hours with instruction, review and their written exam. Upon finishing the exam they grabbed their SAR Pack and went into the field to build a fire and cook dinner (also a test). As soon as it got dark they were "called out" for a search scenario and assigned to search teams with experienced mentors to act as leaders. They successfully located clues and ultimately the victim, packaged him in a litter and carried him out to the road to complete the exercise.
Once they retuned to the CP they checked out and were sent off into the brush to construct a bivy for the night using the contents of their SAR Pack.
In the spirit of continuous quality improvement, all systems need periodic evaluation in order to evolve. Possibly the most naïve beginner in a class will have the insight needed to take the system to the next level of improved functioning. So it is with our Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC). The current instructors are engaged in discussions about how to improve the course. We are looking at criteria to be an instructor, prerequisites for the course, separating instruction in avalanche from mountaineering and the overall delivery of the course. We will first visit the ideas via email discussion. At some point we will have conference calls. We may end in a live meeting. We need help!! If you are interested in participating, please contact me. My email address is: canyonear AT gmail DOT com.
Sonny Lawrence
Cave and Technical Rescue Team
Amber Dubois has been missing for 30 days. San Bernardino County SAR was called to assist in the search of an area in Escondido near Mesa Rock Rd and Woodland Heights Rd. In addition to covering our area, we were also called to check a storm drain without a grating. Members of West Valley SAR helped us pull the manhole cover.
The Cave and Technical Rescue Team as well as West Valley SAR successfully completed their MRA snow and ice re-certification on March 7 in Squaw Valley ski resort in Lake Tahoe, CA. The re-certification consisted of two parts. In the first part teams were required to proceed to a snow slope with a set of coordinates to find their patient. Once the patient was located he/she was packaged and evacuated. Throughout the process the teams are accompanied by two evaluators who score the team's technical rope skills, medical care, communications, and leadership skills.
The second part of the test involved an avalanche beacon search. A team of 3 was taken to a slope and provided a scenario where three people have been overcome by an avalanche. Two were wearing beacons, but a third was not. The team of three is then allowed 15 minutes to locate all three people and scored according to their technique and haste.
Placer County Sheriff's SAR organized this year's re-certification, and they did a terrific job. The venue was ideal, and the scenarios were challenging. As always, it is good to see our fellow MRA teams in action, and to be a
part of such an organization.
It all started with a bum shoulder. Ironically the shoulder was injured during a grueling litter carry in January when a hiker fell and injured his ankle above the Sierra Hut on Baldy. My injured shoulder, and the voice of my physical therapist telling me to lay off carrying a pack for a while, kept me out of the field on Saturday and in the command post. My compatriots in West Valley SAR are excellent search managers, so I don't mind command post duty with them, but I do prefer to be in the field. If you've ever worked in the command post, and I mean work, not just sitting around drinking coffee and jawing about whatever, then you know that the work load is completely out of phase with work in the field. The operational period begins with a frantic assembly of team assignments and filling out the appropriate paperwork all while coordinating team transportation with the intent of getting people in the field quickly. For those going into the field, the wait can be maddening, but it does provide a bit of time to sort gear and prepare for the assignment at hand.
Four teams from West Valley SAR and Sierra Madre SAR searched through the night for a missing skier on Mt. Baldy. Early this morning, San Bernardino County Sheriff's Aviation found the missing person on the summit of Mt. Baldy. The missing person suffered from frostbite, but was otherwise healthy.
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BMC is a GO! It will be held at Snow Valley ski resort in
Running Springs. http://www.snow-valley.com/directions.html
The three weekends are: January 24, 25,
February 7, 8 and March 14, 15. The March weekend may be cancelled if there are
not a sufficient number of participants. Hence the January and February dates
are the better choices. Registration is required. Please contact Dan Whitten at
Volunteer Forces 909-387-0678.
Certification
students: the weekend will be run
similar to a SAR mission. There will not be scheduled food or toilet breaks.
Eat, drink and rest on the fly throughout the day when rare opportunities
present themselves. Wear slippery
pants and jacket for ice axe arrest. You should show up at the parking area by
at least 0630 with full packs in order
to begin walking at 0700 on Saturday. You possibly will not have a significant
break until you go to bed late that night.
There are no toilet facilities where you will be camping. All human
waste is to be packed out. Festivities begin just after sun up on Sunday and
will end in the afternoon. Our meeting location is at the western portion of
the Snow Valley main parking lot at GPS NAD27, 0496308, 3786727. Check in
officially with Mike Shaw. Relevant information will be posted on a white
Toyota Landcruiser, CA license 4RKN703. There is good cell phone coverage. The
155 radios will be monitored on channel 11, TAC 1. Consider sleeping at that
location next to your car on Friday night in order to assist with
acclimatization. Participants must
officially check out on Sunday in order to receive credit.
Recertification
students: in order to participate,
registration is mandatory with Dan Whitten at Volunteer Forces. Be prepared to
begin walking at 0700 on Sunday. Meet at the location noted above. Check in
officially with Dave Chamlee. Consider sleeping next to your car on Saturday
night to assist with acclimatization. This is a test. Instruction will not be
given. Feel free to join the certification students on Saturday if needed. Any
avalanche beacon can be used for the test. It is strongly suggested you test
with a device you are intimately familiar with. Wear slippery pants and jacket for ice axe arrest. The test will end
late Sunday afternoon. Only registrants who officially check out will be given
credit.
For more information please contact Sonny
Lawrence: email canyonear AT gmail DOT
com or cell phone 951 DASH 315 DASH
5449.
Other than our Mountain Rescue Association certification, we don't often get to manage searches as a team. We participate in plenty, and even help manage them, but since we are not responsible for a region in the county, we are never the first team called for a search within the county. Success in a wilderness search is almost entirely dependent upon the management of the search. Using resources efficiently, and evaluating clues are keys to success. In the wilderness, however, even a well-managed search can be unsuccessful. There are many variables that are impossible to account for.
To make it as realistic as possible, we enlisted the help of a colleague from the Wrightwood/Phelan Search and Rescue Team to hike into an area and "get lost". Earlier in the week I told the team that we would run this as an actual call, so they would be summoned from their homes sometime on Saturday. That is all they knew. They didn't know if we'd be in the sunny desert or sunny, snow-covered mountains. They do know to be ready for both this time of year. We have had days with calls in the 100 degree desert followed by a call to search in the snow on a neighboring peak.
Today the call came in at 10:45 for a missing hiker in the Mormon Rocks area of Cajon Pass. One of the biggest issues when initiating a search/rescue call is managing the response of resources. We have members who respond from Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego Counties. This means that some will respond directly to the search area, while others will drop by our equipment cache at the sheriff's headquarters to pick up vehicles and gear. This search was no exception. Half the team responded to I-15 and Hwy 138, while the other half of the team gathered the gear.
I need your assistance. You got it! I need names. Please divulge as many as possible, along with title and phone number. I will do all the cold calling myself. Don’t fret, I won’t release the source unless you authorize it. You see, I am chairing a committee for IESARC to raise funds for a one time only project. IESARC would like to build a 16 foot trailer to be used for public relations. It will have various audiovisual equipment and display capability. All of the SAR teams will be welcome to use it at team events. Consequently I am requesting of all of you to give me names of individuals I can contact. I am willing to do presentations for service organizations such as the Kiwanis or Lion’s clubs. I am also willing to contact key people at a large business. So, please send me suggestions. You can direct them to Sonny Lawrence via email at: canyonear AT gmail DOT com. Thanks
The Cave & Technical Rescue Team got the call to assist West Valley SAR at approximately 2100 hrs on Sunday, January 4. There was an injured hiker at the Sierra Hut that needed to be evacuated via litter carry. My teammates arrived on scene to find one team with the hiker, and one team heading up the trail. With members of San Bernardino Mountain SAR, Wrightwood, and Valley of the Falls SAR our team of 7 made our way up the hut trail to meet the crew beginning their descent with the patient, Steven Yang of Temple City, CA.
Just as we were finishing dinner on Christmas Day, I received a call to assist West Valley SAR in a search for an overdue hiker on Mt. Baldy. Upon arriving at the command post I was assigned to hike the "Hut Trail" to see if our missing hiker was waiting out the storm in the hut. Fortunately the stormy weather broke before my team of 4 entered the field.
