Author: Matt Stewart

JSAR and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office were alerted after 5pm Saturday for an InReach SOS along the standard climbing route for the Brothers. One climber was reported to have symptoms of heat injury bordering on heat stroke. Four SAR volunteers started up the Lena Lake Trail toward the coordinates. After a lull in satellite communication with the party (InReaches do not always have good service in the Olympics), new coordinates showed them moving down the climbers route. They were able to advise JCSO that the team of three was hydrating with water and electrolytes and moving slowly. The first JSARContinue readingThe Brothers heat injury

JSAR was paged around 3:30 Friday afternoon, July 22, for a reported hiker with an ankle fracture on the trail halfway to Lena Lake. The Sheriff’s Office and Brinnon Fire Department also responded to the trailhead. A team of two started up the trail with a wheeled litter around 4:45 shortly after the fire crew, who located the patient and splinted the injured leg. The patient was loaded and started down the trail, met by additional JSAR teams with fresh personnel to assist with the litter. Reaching the trailhead around two hours after the mission started, the patient was transferredContinue readingLena Lake ankle injury

JSAR was notified by the sheriff’s office shortly after 2pm on Saturday of a satellite SOS sent from the vicinity of the climbers camp for the south peak of The Brothers reporting a climber with a broken ankle. JCSO, US Forest Service and six volunteers each from JSAR and Olympic Mountain Rescue responded to the trailhead. Based on the expected time for a rescue by ground and the patient’s condition, the assistance of a hoist-capable helicopter was requested through the state. The first team of JSAR volunteers hiked quickly to the area, followed by additional JSAR and OMR personnel carryingContinue readingThe Brothers ankle injury

Six JSAR volunteers joined dozens of other ground searchers and canine teams from around the region on Saturday, July 9, to assist Clallam County SAR with the search of areas of interest related to a person missing from earlier in the year. JSAR and Olympic Mountain Rescue personnel performed grid searches of an assigned block until both units were redispatched that afternoon to an emergent call for rescue on the Brothers.

JSAR, JCSO and Brinnon Fire were notified on Saturday morning, July 2, of a patient with a broken leg. Originally described as being at Lena Lake, the location was confirmed by the coordinates attached to the 911 call to be in a campground in the area along the Forest Service roads. JSAR stood down, and the call was handled by Brinnon Fire Department.

JSAR, JCSO and Brinnon Fire Department were called around noon on Monday, June 20, for a hiker at Lena Lake feeling ill with weakness and trouble breathing. The subject walked out and was at the trailhead shortly after JCSO and JSAR responder arrived, following shortly by arrival of Brinnon Fire. Brinnon Fire evaluated and treated the patient.

JSAR was notified around 1930 on Saturday of an SOS sent by an InReach device on the Lower Big Quilcene Trail. Seven volunteers responded. SAR deputies and detectives responded either to the scene or to the task of working with Garmin to gain more information about the alert and attempts to communicate with the InReach user. A hasty team of 2 inserted via the Notch Pass Trail for a quick and downhill route to the coordinates provided. Before 2100 they located a hiker with an ankle injury who had been given a tent, sleeping bag and the InReach device byContinue readingLower Big Quil injured hiker

JSAR volunteers assisted Clallam County Sheriff’s Office SAR on February 10 and 11 searching for a subject missing on foot from his home in a wooded area west of Port Angeles. These were days two and three of the search. On the afternoon of day four, a Mason County SAR team found the subject alive about 500 meters north of his residence in three-foot-tall grass. He was discovered when a search canine alerted his handler and team members to the location. He was found alert and conscious and was treated for hypothermia and transported to the hospital for further care.Continue readingAssist with Clallam County search

JSAR was requested to respond with JCSO on the afternoon of January 3rd to three subjects trapped with their vehicle at the Lower Big Quilcene trailhead. Sunday’s storm system dropped 14″+ of fresh, heavy snow, leaving the vehicle stuck. The subjects had become mildly hypothermic hiking during the deteriorating weather and sheltered in the vehicle overnight. JCSO used ATVs to ferry JSAR personnel up the road with skis. They also brought medical gear, snowshoes and additional clothing for the subjects. A hasty JSAR team on skis made contact and evaluated the subjects, who were determined to be in relatively goodContinue readingLower Big Quilcene stranded subjects

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’sContinue readingUpper Dungeness search

An injured hiker was reported in the Buckhorn Lake area on Wednesday just before 7pm. Another pair of hikers camping nearby activated the SOS function on their InReach to call for help. JCSO and eight JSAR volunteer responded to the Tubal Cain trailhead in Clallam County, the best access for this trail that stretches into Jefferson County to where the injury was reported. The initial team including EMTs made contact with the patient around 11pm and prepared her for movement. Subsequent teams arrived with the wheeled litter and the personnel needed to handle the ground evacuation. An equally tired patient,Continue readingBuckhorn Lake ankle injury

JSAR was paged early Monday afternoon for a hiker at Lena Lake with an ankle injury. Seven volunteers responded up the trail, reaching the injured hiker roughly halfway to the lake. Several other hiking parties had provided assistance to move the patient several miles closer to the trailhead by carrying her on their backs, including an off-duty paramedic who evaluated and stayed with the patient. JSAR used a wheeled litter to evacuate her the rest of the way to the trailhead.

JSAR responded on Friday afternoon for a patient near Buckhorn Lake with symptoms of dehydration and heat exhaustion. Three volunteers and an EMT-qualified deputy reached the party en route toward the trailhead in the vicinity of the Tubal Cain mine. They evaluated the patient, provided hydration to the party and escorted them out.

On the afternoon of Sunday, July 11, several JSAR volunteers responded to a Brinnon landing zone to stand by while a crew from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island SAR effected the rescue of an injured climber on Warrior Peak. JSAR was stood down when it became clear the helicopter crew would be able to access and hoist the subject.

On Monday, July 5, JSAR and deputies responded toward the Lena Lake area for a missing hiker. While en route up the Forest Service road to the trailhead, a JSAR volunteer with information about the hiking party’s vehicle located them driving out and determined that the lost subject had been reunited with his party.

JSAR was paged at 1:45 Friday afternoon for the rescue of a subject on the Lena Lake Trail with a reported ankle injury. Volunteers freed themselves from work and other obligations and headed to the trailhead, which is located just south of the county border in Mason County. Teams started up the trail as they arrived, with an EMT reaching the subject around 4:30 pm and subsequent teams bringing the wheeled litter, additional personnel to operate it and three additional EMTs. The injured ankle was splinted and the patient loaded for the carryout from the north end of Lower LenaContinue readingLena Lake injured hiker

JSAR was alerted around 915 pm Saturday of an InReach alert for a climber with a leg injury on the approach hike to the Brothers. The location was approximately half way to Climbers Camp from Lena Lake. Eight volunteers responded and headed up the trail with EMTs, a litter team and a radio relay to establish a comms link between the trailhead command post and the higher teams. While en route, word came through an InReach message that the climbing party was moving down trail toward Lena Lake. The climbing party was met by JSAR at the far end ofContinue readingE Fork Lena Creek injured hiker

JCSO notified JSAR around 1 PM Sunday, May 23, of an injured climbing party on the Brothers. An InReach emergency beacon and follow-up phone call from another climbing party in the area stated that two people had fallen. One unresponsive patient had fallen further into an opening in the snow and over a rock face with running melt water. The reporting party abandoned their climb to stay with the fallen climbers, helping to warm the one they could reach. A SAR helicopter crew from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island was requested and found a way through cloud layers to dropContinue readingThe Brothers climbing accident