Bill Koelpfer did not return as planned, so while a wildland fire approached Chino Hills, West Valley SAR was called to search for the missing man on November 15. After several hours of searching additional resources were summoned and the search continued into the morning of November 16. Around 10am a 911 call was received from a hiker in the area reporting that she had heard somebody yelling for help near her location on the Icehouse Canyon Trail. A nearby team was redirected to this location and made contact with Mr. Koelpfer confirming that he was the one shouting and was the missing hiker. The hiker suffered no major injuries and was hoisted from his location around 11:30am by Sheriff's Aviation and flown to Cow Canyon Saddle where he was evaluated by paramedics standing by and returned to the command post for a debriefing.
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| From Koelpfer Search |
Around 1300 hours Team 11, who was returning from the field, happened upon a woman hiking near Icehouse Saddle hobbling along on an injured ankle. After a short discussion it was determined that she would require evacuation as well. After a bit of load-lightening, the airship was able to hoist Ms. Martin and return her to Cow Canyon Saddle for evaluation by another set of waiting paramedics. The irony of this situation is that Ms. Martin was the hiker who made the 911 call to report Mr. Koelpfer's yelling for help.
In addition to West Valley SAR, thanks to San Bernardino Mountain (Central) SAR, Rim SAR, West Valley Posse, and the Cave Rescue Team for another successful search and rescue mission.