Tech tools in wilderness search and rescue

This Washington Post article is about lost person searches in the wilderness: "Lost in the wilderness: Tech tools help but they don’t always find someone in time"

Side note: There are volunteer search & rescue groups very similar to CERT, including some with trail-sniffing dogs or on horseback. I was a "ground pounder" myself. Most searches were for Alzheimer's patients, but we had lost hikers & missing kids too. 

I highly recommend the Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course offered by the National Outdoors Leadership School (NOLS), even if you won't use it in the wilderness.

Search & Rescue: Nevermind

It's an all-hands callout! On a weekend, so I'm available!

ASRC FCO for 58yo female on Appalachian Trail north of Harpers Ferry. Ground resources needed for hasty searches and containment. All teams send avails. More details on the way.

10 minutes later...

Subj walked out of woods. All teams stand down.

A Pitt Too Far

There's a full search and rescue call-out for a missing 83-year-old man. I'm in the negative on leave, but technically I'm allowed to go another day or two in the hole. Except it's near Pittsburgh, a 9-hour round trip. With my luck, they'd find him by the time we got there. (Wouldn't be the first time.)
_______________________

Update: The missing 83-year old disappeared when he went to take out the trash and never came back. He has dementia, so it was thought he wandered off (as such people tend to do). But how far could he have gotten?

----- Original Message ------
Received: 09:23 AM EDT, 04/05/2012
From: ASRC Dispatch

Search suspended. Subject likely to have taken bus to other area.
Might restart if more information is found.

Cat Food

A missing hiker was found after 42 days in the woods. Rescuers reported "she's alive. And she's got a cat."

"Authorities said Margaret Page, 41, took some food with her but ran out, and stayed alive by drinking water from a nearby creek. She fed her cat, Miya, with cat food she had packed."

Damn, I knew my survival kit was missing something.

I wonder if they really taste like chicken.

CAPSHIELD 12 - Day 2

Today we spent hours scouring semi-collapsed buildings looking for survivors, and hauled out seven people on stretchers -- which we then carried 100 yards. As one of 4 litter bearers, my share of the weight was 40-50 lbs for each. It wasn't that bad, but I was exhausted by the end.

We'd found every body in every building, and transported all the survivors... but then they told us to do an eighth, just for show, because VIPs were watching. This one was from decon: 200 yards, mostly uphill. Ugh.

Finally, we wrapped for the day, had some pizza, and went home to nurse our own injuries.

CAPSHIELD 12 - Day 1

Soldiers sat around the clearing, some having a smoke, others trying to catch a few winks. The lonely sound of a harmonica floated in the breeze. "Hmm hmm hmm hmm-hmm-hmm, hmm hmm hmmm-hmm-hmmm" ("Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam...") They weren't in uniform; add a campfire and they could be cowpokes.

Except for the simulated blood, lacerations, embedded glass fragments, and impalements. Also, the Old West ambience was spoiled by the guy entertaining us with Chewbacca noises before going back to typing on his phone.

War is hell.

They told us the scenario: a Cat 3 hurricane hit, leaving downed trees and power lines, etc. "That's it?" I thought. "So we open some shelters. Big deal."

But wait, there's more. "There are protesters... (damn occupy-Wall-Streeters!) AND terrorists attacks, with both shootings and bombings. The terrorists post a viral video threatening more." (Not a tape like Osama bin Laden; a YouTube video that lots of people share. To which my reaction, of course, was "what, no Twitter?")

The Montgomery County CERT (including DisasterMan) jumped into action. It was the annual CAPSHIELD exercise, practicing with the military to respond to mass casualty incidents. Once again, photographer Matt Laur got some great shots.

More at: CAPSHIELD - Day 2

Blue Xmas

Crap. There's a callout for a missing 11-year old girl in Salisbury. It's only 2.5 hours away, but we send a minimum of 2 people, and no one else has stepped up. Most of our members are students, and probably home for winter break.

Right now, it's 28 degrees there -- 19 with wind chill -- and it'll be colder tonight, and raining all day tomorrow. Not a good time to be lost.

Update, 12:35 pm
Double crap. This might be a cadaver search.

Sex Offender Charged in Kidnapping of Md. Girl, Authorities Say

Search for a Blind Hiker

The Potomac Valley Rescue Group (PVRG) deployed a team of five volunteers (including DisasterMan) to join a search for a missing hiker in George Washington National Forest. The hiker, a legally blind, 41-year-old male, was found uninjured three days after the search began. Photos

Shenandoah Search

Volunteers from the Potomac Valley Rescue Group (PVRG) participated in a search for missing man on Cedar Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. Searches continued for two weeks before the subject was found deceased. Photos.