December 6th, 2004

 

    Coos County Search and Rescue participated in a successful search for a missing mushroom picker above Frona Park near Dora.  Despite some early miscommunications between the Sheriff's Office and a couple of Fire Companies at the scene, our team rose to the occasion and performed quite well.  In fact thanks to Brian Hibdon, we were aware of the situation before the Sheriff's Office had enough information to call us out.  Brian notified Joe Doman about the situation and that Team Leader JJ Kellum appeared to be having telephone problems.  Joe called the Sheriff's Dispatch and discussed the situation with the dispatcher on duty.  It just so happened that no deputies had been able to reach the scene because of other priority calls.  It was mutually decided to err on the side of safety and put our team on standby.  Brian then went down the list putting our people on standby.  Meanwhile Joe was able to track down JJ who was teaching a Red Cross class.

    In a very short while the Sheriff's Dispatch notified us that we were being activated.  Because of the standby being in effect we were able to report to the scene which was eighteen miles East of Myrtle Point very rapidly.

    The missing female was located by a Sheriffs Deputy on a motorcycle about ten PM. Cooperation between the different agencies occurred on a grand scale.  The wet, bedraggled and very cold subject was hustled into Joe's Astro van (Search and Rescue's TAC Unit), the heat turned up and the medical personal from two fire companies were able to attend her.  Incidentally, our chemical body warmers (big Hot Hands) proved to be invaluable in getting the subject warmed up.  Proof enough, that we all should carry these life savers in our packs. The subject was stabilized by the time the ambulance arrived on the scene.

        All members of Search and Rescue that responded to this incident should be commended for showing the initiative to act properly when things are not going by the book.  The Sheriff's Deputies, and both Fire Companies thanked us for showing up and organizing the search in a professional manner.