The Recovery of Steve Fossett

My team was called to assist with the recovery effort at the scene of the Fossett aircraft crash. Our job was to grid search the area looking for remains. Also onsite was the NTSB who were investigating the reasons for the crash.

When the call came we were told that personal effects of Mr. Fossett were found, and that we were to look for the crash site. On our way to the command post at Mammoth Airport...

The Recovery of S. Fossett from SBSAR on Vimeo.

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Daniel Katz Found!

DATE/TIME: September 22, 2008, 9:00 a.m.

Initial Press Release: June 8, 2001, 7:30 p.m.,

INCIDENT: Overdue Aircraft/Search for Missing Person

LOCATION: San Bernardino Mountains/Middle Fork, Lytle Creek

VICTIM (S): Daniel Katz, age 24 years a resident of Mexico City

INVOLVED PARTIES IN ORIGINAL SEARCH EFFORTS: Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Civil Air Patrol, Riverside Sheriff's Department, San Bernardino Sheriff's Department Aviation and Volunteer Forces Unit

SUMMARY: On June 8, 2001, The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was contacted by the California Office of Emergency Services (OES) to assist in the search of a possible downed aircraft in the Lytle Creek area of Fontana. A Search Management Team from the Sheriff's Volunteer Forces Division was sent to the scene to operate the search efforts.

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Insertion at Red Ridge

Yeserday Mark Kinsey and I were inserted at Red Ridge near the summit of Mt. San Gorgonio. Our assignment was to search the Vivian Creek Trail from that point to the bottom. Our missing person suffers from a seizure disorder, and as such, when he recovers from one of these events, he does not remember the events just prior. This meant that our searching required us to search off-trail as well.

Tony Jacquet Search: Helo Insertion at Red Ridge from SBSAR on Vimeo.

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Missing Woman, Hulda Crooks Park, Loma Linda, CA

Sunday, 08-10-08

The San Bernardino Mountain S&R Team was called upon to deploy to a search for a critical missing woman on Sunday, 08-10-08. The page came very early that morning, about 0200 hours. My first thought was "I sure hope this is not an early morning training reminder" since the Team was scheduled to take the Department's new Helitac Course put on by Aviation later that morning. After refocusing on my pager, I realized this was, indeed, an actual search call-out. I called the Team Commander to let him know I was on my way.

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Over-the-Side Recovery at Red Rock Wall, Hwy 18

Wednesday July 30, 2008 about 1530 hours the call comes for an over the side operation. At the time it was not clear whether this was a recovery or a rescue of an injury. Upon arrival at Red Rock Wall on Highway18 just west of Rimforest the following agencies were on scene. Caltrans, CHP, Crest Forest Fire, Rim of the World. net, Forest Service, and SB County Sheriff- (Aviation, Law Enforcement, and SAR {possibly also COP}). The hour had become late and several members of the RimSAR technical rescue team were on vacation. San Gorgonio SAR was called as assistance to RimSAR should the need arise and Crest Forest Fire had already set up a mainline and belay station.

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The Grand Twitter Plan of '07

If you are over the age of 25, then your head is probably still spinning with all this talk about text messaging and such. You were quite comfortable with your phone doing one thing: making phone calls. Other than using a "send" and "end" button, it didn't take much to figure out how to make your cell phone work. Well, guess what? It is time to put that phone to use and join the 21st century. To serve the citizens of San Bernardino County and the State of California, we must use every tool at our disposal to further our mission. By now, you should have practiced sending a few text messages, and you certainly should be comfortable with receiving them. Now, let's look at a service that may be of help in providing yet another communications channel for SAR.

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Toward a More Efficient Callout System

It is 2am and your coordinator has just called you to notify you of an overdue hiker. He requests that you call the team and have them at the staging area as soon as possible. So, what do you do?

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