SARCon brings international search-and-rescue pros to Mt. Hood -- and local search volunteers get a new truck

Unprecedented gathering at America's most-climbed mountain

NOTE TO MEDIA (Photos and Video): The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office shot extensive, broadcast-quality video of SARCon '08 field exercises and interviews, as well as the donation of a new truck to Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue. The video and high-resolution photos are available at the Sheriff's Office FTP site.

WELCHES -- Search-and-rescue volunteers, professionals and vendors converged on The Resort at the Mountain in Welches last weekend for Northwest SARCon 2008.

During this unprecedented four-day gathering in the shadow of Mt. Hood -- America's most-climbed mountain -- internationally renowned experts led field and classroom exercises covering the latest advances in search and rescue, including: water searches, wilderness and high-angle rescue, K-9 searches, communications technology, robotics, body identification and recovery and much more.

"Really, this has been has been one of the finest conferences I've had the opportunity to attend," said Robert J. Koester, an incident commander and instructor for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and creator of the International Search and Rescue Incident Database. "I go to a lot of them -- not just in the country, but in the world -- and this is international-caliber conference."

SARCon '08 was hosted by the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office -- the agency responsible for leading rescue operations in Clackamas County, which includes Mt. Hood. At the closing banquet on Saturday, Oct. 4, Sheriff Craig Roberts also presented volunteer organization Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue with a brand-new Nissan Titan V8 with an extended cab -- a much-needed vehicle donated by Jay Lee of Jay Lee's Auto Group in Gladstone. The truck was even custom-detailed with the PNWSAR logo by Higgins Signs of Clackamas.

"We've been dreaming of holding a conference like this on Mt. Hood for years," said Sheriff Roberts. "It was a fantastic opportunity for law-enforcement pros and the skilled volunteers we need in the field to get together and exchange info.

"Something like SARCon builds both our knowledge base and the sense that we're all working together. It also gave us a chance to really, truly thank the volunteer groups for their commitment to search and rescue. It's mind-blowing. We couldn't rescue anyone on the mountain without them, and almost all of them are doing this free of charge."

HIGHLIGHTS FROM AN ACTION-PACKED CON

With more than 200 professional law-enforcement and rescue workers and skilled volunteers and attending classes and field workshops led by 37 different instructors covering land, it would be impossible to list every SARCon highlight. But here are a few:

• Award-winning outdoor journalist Eric Blehm (author of "The Last Season") gave the opening keynote speech. Titled "Beyond the Search," the talk focused on the search for back country ranger Randy Morgenson, who disappeared during his 28th year in California's Sierra Nevada mountains.

• Air Force-trained survival expert and author Peter Kummerfeldt talked extensively about the psychology, physiology and tools needed in life-threatening wilderness episodes, and busted several popular myths about survival needs. His outdoor seminars on "Survival Tips and Tricks" -- held in the pounding rain -- were among the most popular at SARCon.

• Extensive field work was a hallmark of the conference -- allowing participants to train in the very wilderness environment in which they conduct their rescues. Participants jumped into the Sandy River (in the aforementioned pounding rain) to learn from Scott Walker and David Elle of Clackamas County Fire District #1 how to navigate fast-moving water obstacles. Meanwhile, Tennessee-based canine search specialist Pamela Zachritz demonstrated the tactics of training and deploying search dogs in disaster callouts, using actual dogs in the wilds and water.

• Dr. Seth Izenberg, a Legacy trauma surgeon who serves as a tactical surgeon for the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office SWAT team, talked attendees about the hazards of wilderness medicine.

• Portland Mountain Rescue vet Rocky Henderson gave a primer on the hardware and software of high-angle rescues, as well as how to extract people from treacherous environments.

• Robert J. Koester led marathon, well-attended seminars surveying everything from the latest in SAR technology to the psychology of lost subjects suffering from dementia.

• Veronica Vance, a scientist with the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory, led a lively, hands-on presentation on how to identify skeletal remains in the field.

• KOIN-TV meteorologist Bruce Sussman talked about how weather impacts SAR operations. Other experts (including Bob Alexander and Chris LeDoux of Portland Mountain Rescue) surveyed everything from alpine geology to the science of avalanches.

• Clackamas County Sheriff's Detective Wendi Babst gave a primer on preserving crime scenes -- a crucial talk, given that SAR volunteers are often the first to discover bodies in the field.

• Experts from Mountain Wave Emergency Communications and other groups talked about high-tech search tools -- including cell-phone tracking, infrared tools, and the latest in satellite global positioning systems.

• The conference featured play as well as work; participants were ferried by bus to Timberline Lodge for an evening of food and stand-up comedy on Friday night, and a live band (led by Clackamas County Sheriff's Sgt. Lyle McCuistion) rocked the house during the Saturday-night closing banquet.

DONATING A TRUCK TO PNWSAR

Sheriff Roberts approached Jay Lee about the truck donation to Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue (PNWSAR). "I was shocked by Jay's eagerness to donate that truck," said Roberts -- "by how quickly he agreed to give away a top-of-the-line rig. It was an incredibly generous surprise."

After the announcement of the truck donation at the banquet, the entire audience full of volunteers and professionals turned and gave the PNWSAR team a standing ovation. The team then went downstairs to the Resort at the Mountain's lobby and found the fully detailed truck waiting for them in the parking lot. They climbed into the truck bed for a group photo.

Together, the 45-member Pacific Northwest Search & Rescue contributed more than 8,700 volunteer hours in 2007 -- an average of almost 200 hours per member, or more than a month of full-time work. More than half of PNWSAR members are medically trained. This training ranges from an 80-hour basic Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) course to the training two members are pursuing to become full-fledged paramedics.

THE VALUE OF VOLUNTEERS

By law, the sheriff in each of Oregon's 36 counties is responsible for all search-and-rescue operations within its borders -- but in Clackamas County, this poses a unique challenge. Mt. Hood is the second most frequently climbed mountain in the world, behind only Mt. Fuji in Japan, which is the site of a religious pilgrimage.

This fact, coupled with the other outdoor recreation opportunities the county affords, makes the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office the busiest search-and-rescue agency in the state. It completed more than 150 missions last year -- an average of one every two or three days.

With its limited budget and staff, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office relies on a cadre of dedicated volunteers to perform much of its actual searching during rescue operations. These include groups such as Portland Mountain Rescue (PMR), Pacific Northwest Search & Rescue, Mountain Wave Emergency Communications and others.

These volunteers form the backbone of search-and-rescue operations in Clackamas County.

Sheriff's deputies are typically limited to the crucial role of search coordinator -- huddling inside an incident command vehicle that acts as a base of operations, studying maps and directing searchers in the field by radio. Volunteers often head out into the wilderness or climb the icy slopes of Mt. Hood to actually find and retrieve people who are lost.

These volunteers were well-represented at SARCon.

"I can't wait to do it again next year," said Sheriff Roberts.