Director's Dialogue, February 2010

The rescheduled SAR Council Meeting was held on the 3rd of February. At this meeting we had the chance to give Lt. Glenn Grabiec our farewells and presented him with a plaque on behalf of all of our SAR personnel. We wish him the best in the future.

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Basic Mountaineering Course, 2010

Despite several instructors being deployed to missions, and being snowed into their communities, BMC must go on. With a great class of students from several of our teams, as well as some from San Diego and Orange Counties, we conducted the class as planned. Thank you to all the students who braved the insanity that was the 330 and 18 highways that weekend.

Google Giving IE 6 the Boot

Those of you who still use Internet Explorer v. 6 will not be able to access any Google Apps in the coming months. This means that you won't be able to login to sbsar.org or any Google products. IE 6 is nearly 7 years old. Much has happened on the web in that time, and it is no longer suited to effective web browsing. I know that there are still folks out there using IE6, because you make up nearly 20% of the traffic that comes to sbsar.org. Just upgrade your browser and all will be OK. Read more for the letter that I received from Google.

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Missing Snowboarders in Coldwater Canyon (1/24/2010)

 At about 10:00pm on 1/24/10, I was driving to Redlands to stay at Sonny Lawrence's house, anticipating teaching BMC on Saturday.  A callout came over the phone, and I responded to Baldy Fire Station to search for the missing 3 snowboarders.  By the time I arrived, teams were already in the field and it was determined that the three teenagers had dropped into a drainage that funneled into Lytle Creek.  Bob Gattas of West Valley declared that the command post was moving to Fire Station #2 inLytle Creek, we packed up, and headed out. 

View Snowboarders Jan 2010 in a larger map

After regrouping, I was put on a team with John Metzger, John Norman, Dave Bullock, Trevor Walton, and Rico Gallardo.  We drove up the snow covered 4x4 road as far as we could go without chains.  Our assignment was to reach a drainage just over from Cold Water Canyon, where the snowboarders presumably came down.  The team started out on snow shoes at 2:30am from the truck.  We were on and off a 4x4 road for a while, crossed the creek, and eventually ended up on a ridge just above the drainage.  It was steep angle snow shoe traverses and crotch deep snow at times in 18 degree F weather.  The team did well, and we didn't take any real breaks because it was cold if you weren't moving.  Radio commuications were hard at times in our area.  The sun came up and we reached Cold Water Camp about 7:00am.   Then we headed towards the drainage, and sure enough we found snowboard tracks (3 sets), so the trail was hot.  

We were excited, running down the tracked out trail, and had voice contact within 10 min.  We found the 3 snowboarders and checked their conditions.  They were cold, cold feet, wet clothes, and hungry, but doing very well for folks stuck out all night in cold weather.  We changed their socks, got them some hot chocolate, gave them dry jackets and gloves, and they were instantly doing better.  They had built a survival shelter out of fallen tree limbs and insulated the floor with pine needles and such.  They were trying to start a fire when we found them.  We decided to hike them out since getting them moving would keep them warm.  The hike out was a little over 4 miles, but the 3 of them were creative and sat on their boards and sort of scooted down the trail so that they didn't sink in the snow.  We found the transport waiting for us back at the road and all was well. 

Plane Crash Recovery, Lytle Creek, CA (1/23/2010)

On Thursday, 01-21-10, the Search Dog Team was notified of a possible human remains detection dog call-out.  A plane, with two on board, had crashed in the foothills of Lytle Creek sometime on Monday.  But the incident was not reported as an over-due flight until Wednesday afternoon.  The flight originated in Las Vegas, and was to arrive in Compton.  Civil Air Patrol was able to locate the wreckage just after midnight, on Thursday morning, near Glen Helen Parkway and Sycamore Canyon Road, just west of I-15.

All the Units met at the Lytle Creek Ranger Station Saturday morning, and loaded into four-wheel-drive vehicles to hit the sloggy, slippery dirt road to the crash site.  The Search Dog Team had four cadaver dogs with handlers, along with members of other Units - SB Mountain S&R, Morongo Basin, Wrightwood, Victor Valley, etc. who all made their way along the forest service road.  The Coroner’s Office and the NTSB planned to enter the crash site to size up the scene prior to our work beginning.  There was airplane debris scattered over in and along a gully.  The fuselage was badly, badly mangled.

The dog teams went out, and grid searchers followed.  We were to flag all aircraft debris, and all human remains we could locate.  The area was covered in our typical thick chaparral and the going was tough in the brush, especially along the steep slopes of the gully.  We had a busy day, and located many small, medium, and of course, large parts for the Coroner’s and NTSB’s use in determining what had happened to the flight, and to its occupants.

A group of us stayed in the field long enough to deliver the two body bags to the road side, leaving the Coroner and NTSB personnel to complete their tasks.

IESARC Meeting on Feb 3

The January IESARC meeting has been rescheduled for Feb 3rd at HQ, and the usual time (1900).

SB Mountain SAR's Day of PVS

Members from Bear Valley, West Valley, San Gorgonio, Victorville SAR, and SB mtn SAR participated in two evening class sessions, a practice session and a certification for PVS. SB mtn SAR would like to thank Dan and Erin Kerr from San G for all their help as well.

BSAR 2010

The first BSAR Academy of 2010 begins on Saturday February 27th.  Flyers and Course Information sheets for the 2010 BSAR Sessions and the SAR Course Registration Form are available on the DOCUMENTS page. 

BMC Field Session 2010

The BMC Field Session is a GO! 

ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST BE REGISTERED.  If you are attending and have not received a confirmation email from me you must contact Sonny Lawrence at 909-255-6036.

Due to heavy snow, the parking lot of Snow Valley is NOT AVAILABLE FOR OVERNIGHT CAMPING on Friday, January 22nd.  Participants will need to find another location up the hill, or drive up Saturday morning.  Driving will be slow on Saturday, so leave early, check the road conditions and pack your chains. 

IESARC Meeting Cancelled Due to Weather

The meeting tonight has been cancelled. Stay tuned for a date early next month.