Picture this...at around 6am my SAR pager goes of with a loud SOS beeping sound. I roll out of bed and focus on the pager - "Search Mission - missing 20 year old autistic male in area of Glenwood Dr and Weston Rd (Scotts Valley) – staging area, St Augustine Church near SV high school." I call in to confirm that I'll participate on the search and make a few additional calls and send a few more emails letting people at work know that I'll be in late.
So, I get ready and drive over to the staging area. I quickly get briefed, team up with one other ground pounder, and dropped off by patrol car to the place last seen (PLS), a couple miles up Glenwood within the forest. Brrr...it was chilly...and we were told that the lost individual, who has been missing since 1730 on Sunday, was barefoot and only wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Ohh Crap!
My search partner and I start at the PLS and begin making our way upstream – the direction a "witness" claimed the lost individual was last seen traveling. We didn't see any footprints or evidence of travel, which was a real bummer (there's always a lot more clues than victims ...nada evidence was being found). We continued calling out the individual's name and eventually came across several tracks within the creek (under water) that indicated that the direction of travel was downstream. We ended up doing a 180 and moved our search downstream.
In a matter of minutes we located the individual dazed and shivering about 50 yards uphill from the stream. The WFR training kicked in - gloves on, surveyed the scene, announced myself (and my partner) and moved in to help. I treated him for minor hypothermia and my partner radioed in for transport and medical backup.
On the positive side, it was a quick search that ended successfully. On the downside, it was still morning and I figured that I'd better take a shower and head into work at the University - I didn't get to miss any meetings ;) -steve
