Photos by John Piccolo
In a previous Blog post I shared the SAREX 2008 storyline for my son and I.
I should mention we had with us, at all times, a Search And Rescue radio on PEP 1 frequency (so we could hear what was going on between the SAR techs and IC—Incident Command). And we also had cell phone touch with a search manager at “control”, and in a real emergency we would have transmitted the words “NO DUFF, NO DUFF”. Yup…that made me feel safe enough being out in the woods and down a ravine!
So here’s the story line for the three people we met in our scenario:
Subjects #3 (Carrie), #4 (Red) and #5 (Anne) went for a walk to the falls, where they met my son and I (on a Friday afternoon). Together we walked down the railway tracks, parting company at one of the trestles, after the three invited us for a BBQ supper at their place that night. The three then followed a game trail down to the creek.
Just as they reached the creek, Red stumbled and grabbed Carrie for support and they both fell down the bank and into the creek. Carrie banged into a few rocks and hit her head and vaguely remembered Red going downstream (I found out later that a dummy, as seen in the first photo, had been placed face down in the creek to represent Red). Carrie managed to get to the other side and pull herself out. Her head hurt, and things were very fuzzy. After a while, Anne was beside her, and they both started slowly downstream, and eventually saw Red by some bushes on the other side…still partly in the water. They called with no results, although they saw some movement…they thought.
Carrie’s head really hurt, so she decided to rest…and fell asleep. It was nearly dark when she awoke. Red hadn’t moved. Anne was there, but she had a badly twisted ankle from rushing across the creek to help Carrie climb out. Carrie remembered none of that and she wouldn’t leave Red alone. Anne was worried and wouldn’t leave either alone, so they both decided to wait because they knew my son and I would be worried and looking for them (but of course we were in trouble as well).
At some point they heard a plane overhead and Anne waved. They waited for rescue. Both were traumatized.
Now in the scenario, on that Friday my friend phoned the RCMP at 1600hrs and reported my son and I were overdue from a day hike in the valley. After regulation follow-up at my home, RCMP notified local SAR, who in turn put adjoining SARs on standby for Saturday morning.
The local train engineer confirmed seeing us on the way down the tracks, and on the return trip.
Local SAR did initial planning that night, and Mutual Aid met in the morning. The CP (command post) was set up in Beaver Falls Park around 0830. The situation had not changed, so SAR was deployed. When my son and I were found, we asked about our friends, Carrie, Red, and Anne, and an RCMP follow-up determined them missing as well.
While this was happening, the local Detachment received a call from a local pilot. He had heard about the search on the radio that morning. While flying over the valley around noon, he had seen two people down in the creek bed, one waving. He felt that they were in trouble. He gave approximate Lat/Long position. Command Post (CP) plotting and local knowledge showed a spot close to the CP and near an old road that ran down to the creek. They were rescued.
At about the same time a team was requested by RCMP to go to the falls to check something. An accident followed with a member falling into the pool below the falls, badly hurt. A helicopter happened to be in the area training at the airport. They were activated and a longline helicopter rescue ensued.
Since my son and I had been ‘saved’ by then, we went to the falls to watch the final rescue. Let me tell you…it was fascinating to see someone dangling at the end of the helicopter line and slowly lowered to the creek to perform the rescue…and then see him pulled out, with another person in tow.
Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
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