i've just spent the last seven hours listening to the scanner radio search for two missing/lost hikers in the santa cruz mountains tonite - their being located by five rescue sar teams who each hiked into a different drainage ditch looking for these men.
they were found around 1am and since then, the scanner coverage of calfire and the sar team has shared the conversations between the team that located them and the teams trying to connect with the rescuers and rescued. it is now 5:50am - the search started somewhere around 11pm when i first realized what was unfolding.
sleep is not an option when holding one's breath listening to this remarkable rescue effort and the struggle to find a way out of the thick mountainous terrain.
to find out what happened, look beneath the orange manzanita swirl...
a team of 2 deputies and a ranger are taking the men out through terrain so steep and rugged that the crews sent to coordinates closest have had to listen for whistles to track the rescue team and the teams sent in to meet them. then, other teams followed to back up those teams to literally chain saw the rugged manzanita brush that was not passable.
right now, at 6:02 am, the first of the two men is ascending a line extended down 300 ft through that cut path to climb that steep path and then there is still yet another hour's hike to the rescue vehicles. to get to this place, it took five teams searching and six teams working together to get to this staging place.
one member of the secondary rescue team has already withdrawn due to feeling ill. the others have worked with hand held radios - talking to each team, sometimes with the rescuers' exasperation and exhaustion coming through clearly as they were so close yet so far from each other. try joining two ends of a needle through a large woodpile - and making those ends meet at exactly the right place - in the dark!
why post this on a political site?
i keep thinking of how the republicans want to cut first responders - how they say firefighters are unnecessary and that budget cuts must be made while tax cuts kept.
and i can't help but wonder how these two men feel now about that "promise" by romney/ryan - and if they would have survived if left on their own. a late summer hike in the woods - the park with great hiking trails - and suddenly - lost with no one to come to the rescue. that would have been what they faced if romney/ryan had their way.
the men are, by reports of the rescue team, dehydrated and tired - actually, exhausted. the first one has reached the secondary rescue teams, with paramedics standing by.
the radio just had the wonderful words "i see a football jersey..." - one of them has reached the first leg of safety.
i can't help but feel so grateful to these incredible firefighters/rangers/deputies who have been out all night to make sure two people who were lost were found and brought safely home.
and, i remember here in northern california another officer who today gave life and health to eight people. kenyon youngstrom was responding to a dead deer by the 680 highway tuesday when he heard on his radio that another patrol officer was enacting a traffic stop on a jeep - that jeep was in front of him, so he walked over to the car. the 36 year old software engineer in the jeep, without warning, pulled a handgun and shot youngstrom in the head. today, he was taken off life support and his organs were donated.
these are our first responders. these are the people willing to risk their lives to protect ours. from seven hours in the woods, the cold mountains, the dark night after a day of dry lightning strikes in a tinder dry forest - these first responders responded.
to move a deer carcass out of the roadway to protect those who drive that stretch of highway - and a traffic stop - and a bullet in the head. these are our first responders.
these are the people mitt romney and paul ryan and the republicans say aren't necessary in society.
i beg to differ as i feel both great sadness tonite and great joy.
we cannot thank our first responders enough - that is why we HAVE to ensure that president obama is re-elected.
oh, and the "last in the line" - the radio voice of rescue team five - is now halfway up the rope and into the safety of those who were there to find him and those he and the other members of his team safely rescued.
it is a good night into day now.
6:22 AM PT: there is a kind "god" of the mountains! the last radio exchange said that all equipment had been picked up and all rescuers were back to position... and it JUST started to rain.
the mountain gods held back those clouds just long enough!
i'm smiling... and i hope you are, too. it's been a very long night for all those involved, especially the two who were lost and now are found - and for their families and those of the rescuers. now is time to celebrate for this group - and a time to mourn for the officer who gave his all - and for his family and fellow officers who are in deep sadness.
6:44 AM PT: DAMN! just heard over the scanner as i was ready to go to sleep - there was just now a lightning strike in that area - don't know if there is fire - but it is red flag warning area - i so hope there is no fire - but i am so glad they are all out and safe. i can't imagine the terror of being lost in those mountains when there is also fire in the area!
last night all fire stations in our area were kept active with full crews on location because of this weather front moving through with expected dry lightning - i hope that the rescuers and those supporting them will be able to get some sleep before another emergency calls!