Author: Matt Stewart

On the evening of Friday, April 30, Port Townsend PD was dispatched to a call of two women stranded in the area of North Beach while attempting to get to Glass Beach. The walkers contacted emergency dispatchers and said they could not get off the beach due to the high tide. JSAR was requested to assist, along with Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (with a drone to help locate the callers) and East Jefferson Fire Rescue. Law enforcement located the walkers in the area of Cook Street and 49th Street, and a citizen helped lead them to a passable route throughContinue readingNorth Beach assist

Around 5 PM on Monday, JSAR and JCSO were requested to assist Olympic National Park with the rescue of an injured subject along the Dosewallips River Road, a trail since its closure to vehicular traffic. Eleven JSAR volunteers responded along with Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office SAR deputies and Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park rangers. The joint team used ATVs to move equipment and personnel to and from the scene and to evacuate the injured hiker. Brinnon Fire Rescue responded to the scene and sent a paramedic up the trail to assist with pain management for the transport acrossContinue readingONP Dosewallips rescue

JCSO requested the assistance of JSAR ground searchers along with dog teams from surrounding counties on the night of Wednesday, February 10. A subject had gone for a walk in the Port Ludlow area early that day and not returned. While in communication with family earlier, his cell-phone battery had apparently died. Extensive human and canine ground searches and detective work led teams to converge at the subject’s position stuck in deep mud with signs of hypothermia shortly after midnight on Thursday. He was helped to the nearest road and further assisted by fire/EMS personnel.

JCSO encountered a vehicle belonging to a missing endangered 68-year-old female in the Quilcene area in the Snow Creek area of Quilcene. She had been missing for several days from her home in Fife. They prosecuted a search with deputies, dog teams and UAVs on February 2, then requested JSAR assistance the next day for additional ground searches. Additional drone flights in the area on February 5 led law enforcement to the body of the missing person. JSAR assisted with the recovery.

JSAR was requested to assist JCSO on the chilly evening of Sunday, January 17, with the search for two missing juveniles in the forested Dabob area of Quilcene. The subjects were located by JCSO in good health as JSAR began to arrive in the area.

JSAR and other ground and canine searchers from several other counties responded to the Hoodsport area on the evening of Sunday, November 15th, to search for an adult male who had gone missing while walking with his dog around an undeveloped property in the area the previous day. The search continued on Monday morning, when the subject was located deceased and recovered and his dog rescued.

JSAR personnel were requested the night of Wednesday, October 28th, to assist Mason County Sheriff’s Office and Search and Rescue with the ground search for a missing adult male last seen picking mushrooms in the area of Forest Road 23. One JSAR volunteer responded that night and worked with local personnel on an overnight search of the area. Three volunteers assisted Mason County and several other agencies the next morning with the ongoing, ultimately successful search for the deceased subject, and again on Friday for the recovery.

JCSO requested JSAR respond to Collins Campground along Duckabush Road Sunday afternoon to assist in searching for an adult who had wandered away from their group at the campground and failed to return. The subject had been missing approximately 24 hours. Five volunteers responded and searched the camp site, surrounding campground and an area upstream and downstream along the river. Law enforcement simultaneously searched areas of the river with a UAV. In relatively easy undergrowth, an effective searched turned up only footprints, with no sign of the subject or the items he was thought to be carrying. The search wasContinue readingCollins Campground missing person

JSAR assisted JCSO this morning with the rescue of George, a Boxer who had become stuck several feet over the bluff in the Nordland area. JCSO and the dog’s owners were monitoring his condition, unhurt but unable to scramble up a short vertical section of soft bank. Six JSAR members responded and set up a twin-tensioned-rope system, lowering one member down to George. Treats and a scent article eventually enticed George into wearing a harness so he could be safely raised back to solid ground. With in-person training limited this year due to COVID restrictions, this mission was a goodContinue readingCanine rescue from Marrowstone Island bluff

JSAR worked with Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and a canine team from Mason County SAR on Saturday to search a wooded area and surrounding roads for a missing adult. The subject was not located during the day’s search. Update: The subject was located deceased at a later date outside the search area.

JSAR was paged just before 5 PM on Sunday to a reported subject located near the top of Mt Townsend who had fallen and was unconscious, not breathing properly, with possible leg fractures and a head injury. With cloud cover intensifying over the area, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office immediately requested helicopter support in hopes of reaching the subject while weather permitted. They also advised the state that assistance from other SAR units may be needed if rescue by air was not possible. EMTs from Quilcene Fire Rescue went up the trail with medical gear to attempt to reach the subject.Continue readingFall injuries on Mt Townsend

JSAR assisted Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office with a search Monday and Tuesday that ended up being one of the more expanding searches we’ve done recently. Initially requested to respond Monday afternoon to the Upper Big Quilcene Trail to assist a hiker reporting heat exhaustion and a lack of water, JSAR ground teams searched the trail and could not locate the subject between the trailhead and Marmot Pass, including camps and water sources along the trail. With updated information provided by the subject through his inReach satellite communicator, teams eventually converged on the subject when he reached the trail. He reportedContinue readingUpper Big Quilcene area searches

JSAR responded to the area of Dosewallips Rd this afternoon to aid the Sheriff’s Office with the search for a missing hiker. The small hasty team responding for initial scouting and planning handled the search due to the limited area in which the subject was believed to be. The team found the subject in good health shortly before 8 PM in the area of a nearby residence, where she sought water and a way to charge her phone.

Ground searchers were requested early this morning to assist Grays Harbor County with the search for a group of six people that had started a through hike but not reached the far trailhead as planned. Six JSAR volunteers departed for a lengthy drive to the trailhead along the West Fork of the Humptulips River with more scheduled to leave in shifts as they became available. When they first JSAR personnel arrived in the area, they encountered searchers just reaching the road and attempting to report by radio to the command post that the subjects had been located. The subjects hadContinue readingGrays Harbor missing hikers

Eleven JSAR volunteers and two Olympic Mountain Rescue volunteers (already in the area returning from a nearby mission) responded to the Snow Creek area of Quilcene to assist JCSO with the search for a missing child. Teams searched outbuildings, trails and fields in and around a large property for approximately an hour as darkness fell. The child was located in good health not far from the main residence.

JSAR was paged to assist Brinnon Fire Department with the rescue of a dog that had scrambled down a bluff and seemed unable to climb back up. Five JSAR volunteers responded, though the dog was rescued uninjured prior to the arrival of technical-rescue personnel and equipment.

JSAR was requested at 16:47 on Memorial Day to respond to the area of Silver Lakes for a reported snowboarder with a compound fracture of his leg. Information about the subject’s condition and location and the trailhead the group was using to get to the location was spotty. Eight JSAR members responded along with a JCSO SAR deputy. A request for additional resources brought eleven members of Olympic Mountain Rescue to the scene as reinforcements and in case any technical rescue work was needed in the backcountry. Navy Air Station Whidbey Island SAR was summoned to assist in the searchContinue readingInjured snowboarder at Silver Lakes

JSAR was paged at 12:45 AM on Saturday, February 22, 2020, for the rescue of an injured trail runner on the Duckabush River Trail. Jeffcom 911 dispatch was able to confirm that the subject was located 3.5 or 4 miles up the trail with a reported ankle injury. Four JSAR volunteers responded to the scene and started up the trail following the crew from Brinnon Fire Department, while a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy managed trailhead coordination and communication. Due to cold temperatures and the reported injury, JSAR and fire personnel coordinated to get fire-department EMTs to the subject as quicklyContinue readingDuckabush injured trail runner