Seattle Times: Some Paid Year-Round Search and Rescue Co-ordinators Believe Lost are Not Worthy of Extreme Effort

According to the Times report "Close logging roads to prevent tragedies, says lost family's relative":

While the volunteers who do the on-the-ground searching must be trained in basic skills, the coordinators employed by sheriff's departments are not required to be trained in how to run a search.

Many involved in search and rescue feel that the people who get lost also bear responsibility.

This is what I felt when we first heard of the Kim family while the "search" consisted of Josephine county rescue personnel tootling around on snocats and driving in their SUVs (provided by DHS and so cool to take home at night?).   Kim's father hired three helicopters on the weekend, and a separate, volunteer pilot, Jim Rachor, actually found Kati and the children he said in an earlier report partially by following the footsteps that James Kim left in the snow when he went to seek help.

And I note that Josephine County itself may not have been able to do the job itslef because, as Undersheriff  Brian Anderson in an ABC11 report says, they are a poor county, yet apparently in the Mt. Hood search, the state national guard was called in right away, something that wasn't done in the Kim search, leading creedence  to the elder Mr. Kim's claim that available resources were not used.

According to an San Fransisco Chronicle report "Stranded man's death could have been avoided, father says"

Oregon National Guard Capt. Mike Braibish says that heat seeking helicopters were only requested the night after Kati Kim and the kids were found. 

Also on that:

State Police Lt. Brian Powers and others said the heat-seeking helicopters could only be used after the search grid was narrowed thanks to the cell phone signals from the family that were traced to a nearby tower, a process that Kim also said took too long.

Still, helicopters hired by Mr.Kim went up over the weekend in a narrowed search based on cell phone records so the weekend (up to 3 days earlier than the ONG copters actually did go up) seems to be a time that some helicopters from the national guard could have been used even if you believe that helicopters flying patterns over the area in question even along the entire highway to the freaking coast couldn't have been done.  I don't think we should be parsimonious in search and rescue, especially when children are involved.  With the signal fires that James and Kati lit from the car tires, I think earlier massing of helicopters could have worked.  Tires make a whole lot of smoke.

And it seems that the officials in Oregon are covering their rear ends of the Kim family tragedy as fast as possible.

tags: james kim  search and rescue  oregon  california  

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