The mistake that many of our rescued subjects make is thinking they will go for a “short day hike” which takes a turn for the worse when they get lost or injured. Being prepared means that when conditions change you have a better chance of survival.
Because they are patrolling the trailheads, the RAD team’s response time can instead be as little as 5 or 10 minutes. RAD teams respond to missions on at least 50% of the days they are deployed.
The quality of the instructors was top notch. National figures such as Bob Koester, Brett and Skip Stoffel, Hugh Dougher, Chris Young and Rick Hood provided superb instruction; much of it hands on.
Apparently Mailbox does nothing to facilitate improvement in the arts: all remaining graffiti was of the male persuasion with the exception of one pair of breasts which I assumed was an effort to have minority representation. The quality of the pictorial representations was consistently poor – no budding artists here.
To sum up, ask yourself these questions before you leave: if there is an emergency, can I expect a positive outcome with the equipment provided? Second, can I spend the night without great risk? If the answer to both these questions is yes, then have a great trip!
Photos from a recent First Aid training of King County’s Explorer Search and Rescue teams. KCSARA is always looking for volunteers See this website for more info. Photos by Michael Cline.
We never know if a search will require us to hike for miles into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, be lowered from a helicopter with our dogs to a remote location behind Red Mountain, search an avalanche debris field on Chair Peak, or look for somebody’s grandmother who has wandered away from home in Renton, so it’s important we be prepared for any eventuality.
SAR First Aid Training King Country Search and Rescue recently ran a first aid training mission for its members. They provided training for the very[Read More…]
For SAR members, one of the nice things about RAD is its scheduled SAR participation. Most SAR callouts occur when everyone is settling down, back at home after a day hike or soccer game. That’s when the pager goes off; that’s when they saddle up, pull the boots on, stuff some energy bars in their mouths, and head out to the call.
So now you know who they are. They are the people that the news stations refer to when “a search is underway”. They are the[Read More…]
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