JoCoSAR Blog

JoCoSAR lat night rescue of two Snowshoers

Cave Junction, OR ― On January 11th, 2013 at approximately 11:11 pm, The Josephine County Jail was notified, by OSP, of a lost couple at the Page Mountain Snow Park. The couple had gone snow shoeing with their two basset hounds and were last seen around 1:30 pm that afternoon.

The Jail contacted Dep. Cory Krauss, Search and Rescue Coordinator, regarding the lost couple and Sheriff Gilbertson authorized the immediate response of the Search and Rescue Snow Team.

Sheriff Gilbertson, Dep. Krauss and Search and Rescue responded to the area and initiated a search of the trail system at the snow park. The temperature at the time of the search was 20 degrees.

6 members of the snow team and a Forest Service employee deployed with the search and rescue snow-cat and tracked atv’s. After approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes of searching the couple and their basset hounds were located. They were cold and damp, but declined medical assistance. They were transported to the parking lot of the snow park by the snow cat and were assisted to their residence by friends.

The couple had only intended be out for a couple of hours and only taken water and a couple of lighters with them. While snow shoeing, they missed a marker and went down an unmarked Forest Service road. They traveled approximately 6 miles on Forest Service roads in both Oregon and California before the snow team found them.

Due to the remoteness of this area, a radio link was established by two members of Josephine County Emergency Communications between the searchers and the search and rescue campus in Merlin to coordinate any other emergency services if they had been needed. 

JoCoSAR's Search for missing dirt-biker—big effort and all for naught

Saturday night JoCoSAR got asked to look for a 25 year old man who had gone motorcycle riding off-road in in the Devil's Slide area off Plumtree street in Grants Pass, but had failed to return home. He had separated from his riding friends without clearly communicating where he was going.  He doesn't have a cell phone and didn't use one of his friends'.  His step-dad helped search for him with the SAR teams that included ground searchers, ATVs, K9 teams, road searchers and mounted SAR.

The search callout was about 10 PM Saturday.  About a dozen searchers responded and searched for him though most of the night.  Six of them slept on the SAR floor for a few hours to get an early start on Sunday morning.  On Sunday two dozzen searchers resumed the search.  Ultimately, he was found safe at his girlfriend's house in Grants Pass when he called his step-dad from his girlfriend's house on Sunday.

The JoCoSAR Christmas party that had been scheduled for Sunday afternoon was cancelled, a lot of searchers and animals worked hard because of one thoughtless person.  Failure to let others know his plans or when where he was when he got to a phone launched a search that was labor and resource-intensive, but entirely unnecessary.  

An effort in futility like this one is not good for the morale of a SAR team.  We want to help find people who are lost, injured, missing—who need help, but it is hard to ask people to drop what they are doing, to put a callout above their personal and family priorities, when it is found that there efforts were wasted.  I hope the family appreciates the effort made and that the man understands the trouble he caused for people who didn't know him, but were willing to put his wellbeing ahead of their own.  

Alas, this isn't a rare kind of callout.  Please, do tell others where you are going, when you will be back, and when you change your plans.  This man's family was genuinely worried about him and we were, too.  

Josephine County: JoCoSAR callout finds missing man

This morning JoCoSAR located a cold and tired, but otherwise uninjured, 43 year old man who had been reported missing by his wife sometime late last night.  He had been out exploring places near Pearsoll Peak (5,000 feet) for places he could go go four-wheeling sometime in the future.  When he was way out in the wilderness, his vehicle got stuck so badly he couldn't winch it free.  He had no cell phone coverage when he needed it.

When he couldn't get his vehicle free, he started walking himself out. When it was dark and he got tired, he used an old bath towel from his truck to make a bed in pine needles.  He awoke early because he was cold and started walking again.  Estimates were that he walked over 3 miles before being spotted by the SAR team.

He had given his wife a good description of where he intended to go and when he would be back.  When he hadn't returned and was, in fact, quite overdue, she called the sheriff's office dispatch which was closed.  She then called the OSP who transfered the information she gave them to the Josephine County jail from which the info was relayed to Cory Krauss, SAR Coordinator, who initiated a callout in the wee hours of the morning.  Eight SAR members, many of whom had worked all day rounding up mini horses for the county the day before, and who will be doing that again today, responded to look for the missing man.

One team of three SAR members conducting a road search found the man this morning and got him safely home.

While the "telephne tag" required to initiate this search was cumbersome, it worked.  The County is working on getting the search call-out system as efficient as possible under the financial restraints the county is experiencing. 

Click on the map for some enlargement.  The red flag in the middle of the left side of the map is Pearsol Peak.

 

Josephine County: Air tankers, large ground crew fight Slate Creek Fire

By Jeff Duewel of the Daily Courier  photo: TIMOTHY BULLARD/Daily Courier

WONDER — The plume of smoke from the Slate Creek Fire could be seen for dozens of miles, and three air tankers ferried 14 loads of fire retardant from Medford on a path directly over Grants Pass on Monday afternoon and evening.

The fire burned fiercely for a few hours and is estimated at 150 acres this morning, according to Brian Ballou, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Forestry.

It started on a private timber tract three or four miles up Waters Creek Road from the Redwood Highway, about a half-mile off the road, said Rick Dryer, Grants Pass Unit forester for the ODF. The fire was reported about 1:30 p.m.

More than 100 firefighters are on the ground, along with five bulldozers and multiple engines. Firefighters had carved a fire line around 85 percent of the fire by this morning, Ballou said. More helicopter water drops were planned after this morning's inversion lifted, and possibly more tanker drops.

It is human caused, but ODF is tight-lipped about potential causes. Investigators were on the scene today. There were no structures near the origin of the fire, and Dryer knew of no one working with power equipment in the area.  Fire activity was heavy for at least two hours, as the fire burned along a ridge southwest toward Slate Creek.

 

 Bucket helicopter flying over our house to refuel.


"It's heavily forested, and that's why it really took off between 2 and 3 p.m.," Ballou said. "The fire could throw up a couple of good columns of smoke today. It's really heavy fuel in there."

Sheriff Gil Gilbertson and Rural/Metro Fire Department firefighters went door to door on Slate Creek and Waters Creek roads, telling citizens the facts of the fire. Luckily, the fire got no closer than a half-mile to any homes, Ballou said. No one was forcedto evacuate.
Josephine County Search and Rescue volunteers staffed roadblocks, and other fire departments from the Jackson and Josephine counties were on hand in case structures were threatened. Oregon State Police assisted with traffic control.

Ballou said that, while the head of the fire had settled down considerably, more fire can be expected along the flanks as burning trees and limbs roll downhill. Winds are forecast to be light, but temperatures could top 90 degrees.

"It still has high potential to make a move," Dryer said. "We have a lot of folks out there today and we will for awhile."

JoCoSAR callout: Douglas County man and grandson sought and found

Douglas, Jackson and Josephine Counties searched yesterday morning for a grandfather and 7 year old who were overdue from their routine workout for their 4 dogs.  They started out  from Dillard at 5 AM and usually return by early afternoon, but Saturday they had not returned by 10 PM and a family member reported them missing. 

A telphone ping from the man's phone turned out to have been quite far from where the two were and far from where the two usually work their dogs.  We tend to trust cellphone pings to be reliable location coordinates for a subject, but if wrong, putting all search efforts into that location, especially, if the ping seems to be at odds with where the subjects planned to go, could seriously compromise a search.

Fortunately, the man was able to call his daughter to report that they had had vehicle problems that were now solved and they got themselves home safely.

The search area was laced with many roads in steep terrain.  Thanks to all who turned out to search  

JoCoSAR JoCoSAR AND CITIZENS TEAM UP TO FIND THREE LOST BOYS

From the Sheriff's Office:

Posted: April 16th, 2012 9:34 AM

Incident Date/Time: April 15, 2012, reported at approximately 3:00 p.m.

Incident Location: Rocky Riffle (camping area just below Galice on Galice Rd.)

Yesterday, at about 3:00 p.m., the Sheriff's Office received a report that three boys, ages 5, 8 and 13, had been missing for around four hours. Sheriff's Office deputies, reserves and a BLM ranger initially responded. Ten volunteer searchers from Search & Rescue arrived soon after to assist in the effort. A full Search & Rescue call-out was requested at about 5:00 p.m. A command post was established and two dog teams were deployed. At 5:21 p.m., a couple who had been provided with the boys' description by searchers returned to the command post with all three boys in tow.

The boys walked out into the roadway near Galice when they were spotted. They had been missing for nearly six and a half hours. The boys were wet, muddy, scratched, cold and hungry but otherwise okay. They advised they were on an adventure looking for old gold mines when they became lost. Their families had gone camping the night before at Rocky Riffle and the boys wandered off while the adults were breaking down camp.

The Sheriff's Office would like to thank the couple who aided in the search, who wish to remain anonymous, and all the Search & Rescue volunteers who frequently donate their time, money and hearts to missions "...so that others may live."

Search & Rescue (SAR) is a division of the Sheriff's Office and is funded by donations and federal funds. Search & Rescue volunteers donated 14,412 hours to the community in 2011. For more information on SAR, visit www.jocosheriff.us/sar.

JoCoSAR callout: Missing man found OK

An elderly man from out of state with Alzheimer's dementia, was reported missing in the Grants Pass area late last night.  He had gone out with his dog that that had been found, but the man remained at large on a cold and rainy night. City, sheriff's deputies and JoCoSAR set out to find him.

Happily, te man has been found and is said to be in satisfactory condition.

A Tribute to SAR Dogs

 

JoCo Callout Thursday PM

By Erin Maue  Crime Analyst & Public Information Officer   Josephine County Sheriff’s Office

Grants Pass, OR — At 9:40 p.m. last night, 92-year-old Ruth H. Selle was reported missing from her home in the 4600 block of Averill Dr.
Sheriff Gil Gilbertson, Undersheriff Don Fasching, Search and Rescue coordinator Sara Rubrecht, Sergeant Ray Webb, three deputies and multiple Search and Rescue volunteers responded to search for her.
Neighbors were contacted and advised to keep an eye out for Selle. Sheriff's dispatchers sent out an alert to community members. Deputies checked all foot trails at the nearby park and also checked to see if Selle had been admitted at Three Rivers Community Hospital.
Three Search and Rescue K9s with their four handlers arrived on-scene and, shortly after, at 11:49 p.m., handler Ann McGloon with her K9 Winnie located Selle on a neighboring property in a patch of blackberries.
Selle was not injured and did not require any medical attention. She was returned back to her family's care.
Search and Rescue volunteers donated nearly 18,000 hours to missions, events and training in 2010.
In 2011, they have contributed 5,234 hours so far. The time and resources they contribute save Josephine County an estimated $430,000.00 a year.

JoCo SAR's search for missing CA man

Mar 24, 2011  by Ann McGloon

Elijah, a young man from California reported missing by his family last week, is still missing and they have great concern for his well-being and mental health. On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, Josephine County Search and Rescue scoured the area around the Manzanita Rest Stop in Merlin, where Elijah's car was discovered. Five K9's (including trailing, air scent, and cadaver dogs) and a large ground team spent the day covering the area searching for any clues or sign of the missing. At day's end, no major discoveries were found. Two of the K9's showed some interest in an area along a creek but were unable to follow-up on whatever scent they had captured. Handlers studied the terrain and wind patterns and decided the best course of action would be to search a scrub and wood covered (and tick infested) piece of land the  following day just south of where the dogs had shown interest. So, early on Wednesday two K9 teams and three flankers cleared the parcel. After a short time of searching one of the dogs alerted to the presence of human scent by jumping forcefully on their handler and took the team through the dense brush. The only thing discovered, however, was a large camp where several homeless persons were living; and probably what they had scented the day before. But, no sign of Elijah.