While we always attempt to make training realistic, sometimes that works better than others. Yesterday’s training turned into an actual mission with nearly the same details as the planned training scenario.
JSAR and JCSO deputies met Sunday morning in the Tyler Peak area for training on the several trails in the area that start in Clallam County before entering Jefferson County. When en route, they connected by radio with Clallam law-enforcement and SAR volunteers en route to the nearby Upper Dungeness trailhead for an actual search. The training mission was quickly canceled and all personnel reassigned to assist Clallam.
JSAR’s planned training involved the use of tracking devices, mapping and satellite internet to direct an effective search for a subject who could be on any one of a number of trails in the area. It turned out that the actual mission was similar and on the same trails. JCSO had deployed a full command post and multiple personnel as instructors and trainees, and all of this was added to the initial Clallam SAR response.
During the hasty search of the trails, a ground team established contact with the missing subjects through whistle blasts by the SAR team and gun shots by the subjects. The subjects and searchers worked their way toward each other and established visual contact across Royal Creek. That SAR team proceeded downstream to a crossing then upstream off trail to reach the subjects while additional SAR personnel responded to the trail side of the scene to prepare to deploy a rope system across the creek in case evacuation by litter became necessary.
The two subjects and their dog were in good health, and everyone hiked back to the trailhead. Photo of most of the people involved in the successful search is used by permission.
