Run for Rescue and Safety Fair

Only a few more weeks left to train for West Valley SAR's annual "Run for Rescue". The USTAF-sanctioned event is April 27 at Chaffey College. There are 5K and 10K courses available as well as a "kiddie" course. For your post-run cool down, you can check out the concurrent safety fair. Registration is now open, and you can find information and an entry form at www.westvalleysar.org.

New BMC Location

The Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC) field practical will be held near Laurel Pines Camp. It will be held despite a concurrent SAR mission. Laurel Pines Camp is located at UTM 0526066 E, 3781249N NAD27. This is on State Highway 38 which goes from Redlands through Mentone the back way to Big Bear. The camp is 37 miles from the corner of Lugonia and Orange in Redlands. For internet information see <http://www.laurelpinescamp.com>. Depending on the snow condition, one may park at the long turn-out at the 8000 foot mark, on a road just a few feet west of the turn-out or at Laurel Pines Camp. We may or may not be able to park inside the Laurel Pines gate. That is yet to be determined. In any case, park in such a manner such that the road through the camp is not blocked. Proceed on foot with your entire winter SAR pack to the actual site for the BMC. To get to this site from Laurel Pines Camp, walk west down highway 38 to the turnout at the 8000 feet elevation sign. Look southward to a large flat snow play area which is at UTM 0525718E, 3780852 N NAD27. Walk further westward to find a road that leads to the BMC site. The total distance from parking area to BMC site is approximately 0.5 miles.

New students: The practical begins promptly at 7 am on Saturday on the dates listed in the BMC Tracker website. It will end on Sunday afternoon. The exact ending time depends on number of students, instructors, remediation, etc. Consider car camping at the BMC site Friday night to acclimatize. This is both a learning and testing experience.

Recertifying students: The practical begins promptly at 7 am on Sunday on the date listed in the BMC Tracker website. No recertification will be done on Saturday.  It will end in the afternoon; the exact ending time depends on number of students, instructors, remediation, etc. Consider car camping at the BMC site Saturday night to acclimatize. This is only a testing experience. Instructors will not teach SAR members who are present to recertify. See a description of the field test on the Tracker website.

Radio monitored at BMC site:  155.385 which is San Bernardino county SAR TAC I, i.e., channel 11.

There is onsistent cell phone coverage at the site. Cell phones may work west of the BMC site at Barton Flats or northeast of the site.

For more information, contact Sonny Lawrence, Cave and Technical Rescue Team at

Email:  slawrence@sbsar.org

Mobile phone:  909-255-6036

33rd Annual Morongo Desert Run Oct. 5-7, 2012

When: October 5-7, 2012

Where: Means Dry Lake

15-20 Mile Off-Road  Desert Run, Balance  Beam,  Articulation Ramp, Kids Games, Prize Drawings, Vendor  Displays, Hot food, 50/50 Drawing!!

This is not a race, so bring the whole family!

4X4, Motorcycles, Quads, Buggies and all other off road vehicles welcome!

Information:

760-365-8185  or 760-366-4175

mbsar_desertrun@yahoo.com

www.desertrun.org

Guinness, SBSAR Search Dog and 9/11 Veteran, Dies

The Redlands Patch ran a nice article about the passing of Guinness, a SB SAR search dog. Click the link for the full story.

NASAR/MRA Joint National Meeting

I spent the first week in June taking a NASAR tracking class and attending the joint MRA/NASAR conference in Lake Tahoe. Between the rain, snow, and 70+ degree temps, it was a good conference. Here are some highlights.

The tracking class was great. It was a mix of classroom and field (both day and night) that culminated with a written exam and a large scale field exercise. I was afraid that it would be the same as the class offered by Joling and Heller, but that was not the case. The principles are the same, but they went into a bit more detail with the management of multiple tracking teams, and with tracking in a variety of environments and times of day. I think that this was the second time that this class was offered, and the instructors were pulled from all over the country. It was good to get perspectives from different regions. Evidently it is part of a new tracking cert by NASAR. I was not aware of this prior to attending. I think it is a good class. It is a good "next step" from the county offerings. If anything it gives you more "dirt time" to hone your skills.

Vendor Exhibits

I spoke with a company that makes hypothermia kits for the military. The kits are a tarp, hood, blanket with heat packs in it, and other things. The kit itself is self-contained and costs a little over $100. That is pretty steep for something that is a single use item, but the blankets are intriguing. You can read about them at TechTrade. The one that I think that my team would be interested in lasts for 8-10 hours and costs about $38. They are shrink wrapped in heavy plastic.

Click to read more ...

Mission Manager: Manage Missions and Your Team

Each month you need to submit hours to VFU. Every year you need to maintain a variety of certifications with expiration dates. Each month you train, and need to coordinate attendance. Every team deals with these activities. A few months ago, while at the State SAR Coordinators meeting, I listened to a presentation by a San Diego SAR volunteer who has written some software to help manage missions and teams. The product is called Mission Manager, and is available free of charge to SAR teams. It is a web app that has two funtions: It can be used to manage day-to-day team information and it can be used to manage a mission. The app is highly customizable, and examples of team information that can be tracked include: roster, an hour/miles log, attendance, issued gear, and certifications (with expiration dates). On the mission managing side you can generate a variety of maps with various coordinate systems and datums, generate standard ICS forms, track information such as clues and radio traffic during a search, and track teams in real-time via a smartphone app (Android, iOS, and Blackberry). It is a comprehensive piece of work. As such, a full review is not well suited to the space available here, but I will hit some of the highlights.

 Mapping

All manner of maps are possible with this tool. Google maps, USGS topo maps, and USFS maps are a few examples. In addition to these maps, there also exists the ability to overlay point of interest data as well as live weather data. While this is a web app, with a little forethought, you can download maps ahead of time to enable use without an internet connection. In fact, I have easily replaced MapTech Terrain Navigator for live search mapping duties including GPS uploads. With a good data connection it has the benefit of a single map that can be updated by multiple people, and viewed by anybody with a web connection and the appropriate permissions.

Click to read more ...

Omega Pacific Recalls Certain Quik-Lok Carabiners

Airway Heights, WA — Omega Pacific has discovered a defect in a certain number of gates used in our 7/16” Quik-Lok carabiners that could contribute to accelerated corrosion which may—over time—deteriorate the strength or lifespan of the item. Read the details at Omega Pacific's site.

Camp No Limits 2012

Once again SAR personnel from San Bernardino County helped with Camp No Limits. Read about this program at the Redlands Daily Facts site.

Rattlesnake Avoidance Dog Clinic

On Saturday, July 21 the San Bernardino Sheriff's Search Dog Team is sponsoring a clinic on rattlesnake avoidance. Contact sbsdsearchdogs@sbsar.org to sign up. Read the flyer for details.

Tracking Class Offered in May

The Investigative Tracking Class is scheduled to be offered May 2-3, 2012. Read the flyer for details. This is a great class, and is "required reading" for any SAR professional.