Subject: 911

On September 4th, Jocelyn and Keshala were hiking in the wooded hills near Rachel Lake in Kittitas County. Jocelyn slipped on the trail and fell, landing fifty feet below at the base of a small waterfall. Keshala scrambled down to reach Jocelyn, who was unconscious, bleeding and partially in the water. Keshala pulled Jocelyn from the water and, with no cell phone service, she ran down trail looking for reception. During her descent, Keshala came upon another hiker who activated his Personal Location Beacon (PLB). The hiker went with Keshala to assist Jocelyn until more help arrived. Members of Kittitas County SAR, Kittitas Medic One and Snoqualmie Pass Fire hiked in. They provided initial care, including getting Jocelyn on a backboard and placing IVs. The initial examination confirmed she had sustained multiple critical injuries. Since hiking out, even with a wheeled stretcher, would take hours, Snohomish County’s Helicopter Rescue Team was called to help. The crew of Snohomish County SnoHawk 10 hoisted Jocelyn 150 feet through a clearing in the trees. Jocelyn received additional medical care during the thirty-minute transport to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Thanks to the speedy transport by Search and Rescue and excellent medical care at […]

  Along with three friends, all of us but one, retired physicians, I hiked into the Enchantments via the Snow Creek route where we spent the night at one of the lower lakes in the area. We awoke to a beautiful morning and decided to hike up Little Annapurna, choosing a route off trail which appeared to be an easy hike. As we walked along, boulder to boulder, I misjudged a step onto a rock in a shadow, made even darker by the sunglasses I was wearing. The rock had more of an angle than I realized and was still wet from the morning dew. I fell forward with my left leg completely extended, catching it on a rock about a foot below. I felt a pop, and it was then, that I knew I wasn’t walking out of there. At this point the pain was manageable but I couldn’t bend my leg. We all had two bars on our cell phones but we couldn’t call out. Peter took all the cell phones and hiked to the ridge top for better reception. In the meantime, Gary hiked back to camp and brought my equipment up in case we had to […]

SEATTLE, Wash. – Search and rescue teams across the region spent the weekend responding to hikers in trouble. To read the original KOMO article by Kara Kostanich in its entirety, please click here. Then, Tuesday afternoon a team was called to help three stranded hikers at Rattlesnake Ledge, but as the team was arriving the group was able to self-rescue. “We’ve had several calls, almost every day over this weekend we’ve had several calls for service,” said Alan Labissoniere, a volunteer with King County Search and Rescue. The Snohomish County Search and Rescue team has been on seven rescue missions since Saturday. On Monday teams in King County rescued an injured hiker from Gem Lake area.   “I’ve definitely seen people hiking up into pretty remote areas in tennis shoes, cotton jeans and t-shirts,” said Steve Smith who is a Climbing Education Manager at the Mountaineers. “When that stuff gets wet up high it does not hold an insulating value at all.”   At the Snow Lake Trialhead near Snoqualmie Pass, hikers Jaime Siridakris and Ashley Daneker admitted lack of gear was their mistake on the trial. “There a lot of snow,” said Daneker. “Nikes are not the appropriate foot wear […]

  Whether you consider yourself a hard-core outdoor enthusiast or just an occasional backcountry explorer, learn more about when you should call Search and Rescue, what information you should provide, how long a typical response takes, and more.   QUESTION: How do I call Search and Rescue? ANSWER: The only way to get in touch with Search and Rescue in Snohomish County is to call 911. The initial call may be handled by King County, Washington State Patrol or other dispatch agencies depending on where you are. Explain the nature of your emergency and, if you are in the backcountry, where you are and the trailhead you accessed. 911 will need this information in case you need to get transferred to SNOPAC for the Snohomish County Sheriff. They will have someone from Search and Rescue call you. QUESTION: What if I don’t have cell service? ANSWER: You can try texting 911 regardless of if you have cellular phone services available at your location. You may be instructed to turn off the phone to conserve battery life, and turn it on at scheduled intervals to text 911 and update them on the patient’s status. (Click here for more information about Text […]