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.
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Also, like an actual mission, there were many last-minute snafus that need to be overcome. In all we were able to staff the command post with two people and send the remaining into the field in two teams of two and a team of three. The team of three was assigned to search the area around the vehicle for clues and to establish a direction of travel. Part of their job is to find a suitable track, sketch and photograph it. This information is then given to the other teams entering the field.The tracking team is the slowest. They follow the track from its origin while the other teams head out in the direction of travel to quickly clear areas of high probability. Determining areas of high probability depends upon clues found at the point last seen (PLS), information from friends or relatives, and the history of the area. Many regions have topography and other features that will cause people to travel in a certain direction. Dave Bullock was a member of this tracking team, and you can see his track from the day in the map above. His track is the green, and the blue track is that of the "missing" hiker.
As our search teams closed in on our missing hiker, we decided to extend the scenario with an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) search. These are the radio transmitters found on aircraft that will beacon in the event of a crash. There is no GPS information provided, only a radio signal that must be localized using directional antennas on the receivers. Our team coordinator, Dan Whitten, was returning from hiding the transmitter when he came across a severe traffic accident on nearby Lone Pine Canyon Rd.. He called us on the radio to assemble our medical personnel to assist, as EMS was still several minutes out. We quickly recalled team mates who were EMTs and our resident physician to assist in the rescue effort.
Arriving on scene we found a non-responsive passenger still in the vehicle who looked to have suffered a severe head wound, a child, and the driver of the vehicle. Our team quickly assessed the injured, maintained an airway on the passenger, and waited for the fire department to arrive with vehicle extrication equipment.
With the vehicle accident, the growing snow-play traffic on Hwy 2 and 138, and the setting sun, we decided to forego the ELT search and call it a day. Fortunately Corporal Whitten was able to retrieve the transmitter for us, so we didn't have to hunt for it with all of the traffic on the surrounding roads.
It wasn't over yet.
On our way back to headquarters Dan called saying that there may be a search on Baldy. We were aware of a rescue on Baldy earlier in the day, but, evidently, there was a missing group of hikers still on the mountain. We were asked to hold for a bit while folks from West Valley evaluated the situation. Mark Kinsey and I decided to wait at a gas station on Sierra and I-15 while it got sorted out. About 30 minutes later, West Valley had located the missing party and we were canceled.
Sometimes training weekends can get hectic. This was no exception.
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