June 30, 2019 Chaffee County Sheriff Press Release
On June 29, 2019 at 1633 hours the Chaffee County Communications Center received numerous calls of a kayaker floating downriver from the Buena Vista River Park. Emergency personnel immediately responded to the area and began searching for a potential victim. Information was received that another boater had observed a body in the water near the Wilderness Aware Center in Johnson Village and this boater was now trying to make contact with the body. Emergency personnel and boaters on the water finally were able to pull a male from the water at the River Runners Center. EMS personnel were on scene and the male party was pronounced dead at 1750 hours. Chaffee County Sheriff, Arkansas Water Headwater, and Buena Vista Police began an investigation and it was learned that Michael Robert James, age 40, from Boulder, Colorado, was paddle boating at the Buena Vista River Park. He was observed to fall in the water and was eventually unable to get back on his paddle board. Boaters in the water initially tried to rescue James, however he was eventually swept downstream due to high, fast moving water. Another boater located James in Johnson Village and tried numerous times to pull him to safety but once again high swift water prevented this and this same boater accompanied James to the River Runners area where emergency crews and private citizens pulled James out of the water but at this time he was deceased. The Chaffee County Coroner responded and took possession of Mr...Recap of Mutual Aid Mission to Saguache County
June 29, 2019 Facebook Post by Custer County SAR On June 26th, 2019 at approximately 1945, Custer County Search and Rescue (CCSAR) was contacted by Suguache County Search and Rescue requesting that CCSAR assist with, and ultimately, assume Incident Command (IC) of a search for an overdue hiker presumed to be in the Willow Creek/Kit Carson area. The Custer County Sheriff’s Office approved the mutual aid request and IC was officially transferred from Saguache SAR to CCSAR at 2130. CCSAR’s Incident Management Team (IMT) worked through the night to organize a thorough search plan and requested additional assistance through the Colorado Search and Rescue Association (CSRA). At 0500 on the 27th, CCSAR members met at CCSAR’s Base in Westcliffe for a briefing and then sent 5 members by vehicle to Crestone with a search assignment of Willow Creek. Chaffee County Search and Rescue North and South (two independent teams), initially volunteered 5 members to assist in clearing upper Willow Creek with ground members as well as a UAV/Drone team. Several of these members were to be inserted into upper Willow Creek drainage by REACH Air Medical Services (REACH). Meanwhile, three CCSAR technical climbers were to be picked up in Westcliffe and lift ticketed into Spanish Creek by Flight for Life (FFL) with the goal of clearing the upper drainage and observing the numerous couloirs and slopes around Kit Carson’s “The Prow” feature. During the 1st insertion of a CCSAR member, the subject was observed deceased on a 35 degree snow slope approximately 1,000 feet below the saddle of Challenger and Kit Carson. Four additional CCSAR members and one Chaffee...Search and Rescue North to buy thermal imaging drone with Climax grant funding
Max R. Smith,Chaffee County Times reporter, April 18, 2019 Chaffee County Search and Rescue-North will receive funding for an Unmanned Aerial System that can provide high resolution video and thermal imaging to assist the team in locating rescue subjects faster and performing reconnaissance on dangerous, technical terrain. The drone will be funded through a $25,000 grant from the Freeport-McMoRan Climax-area Community Investment Fund. CCSAR-N is one of 13 nonprofits in the area encompassing Lake, Summit, Chaffee and Eagle counties to receive funding in this grant cycle. Freeport-McMoRan, the Phoenix, Ariz. based molybdenum and copper producer, which owns the Climax mine in Leadville, announced its grant recipients last week, totaling $300,400 in monetary awards. CCSAR-N president Erik Rasmussen said the organization sought the UAS on the recommendation of other sister rescue teams in Colorado, and that the drone would enable CCSAR-N to survey much larger areas of terrain much more quickly from the air, locating subjects more quickly and easily and allowing rescuers to plan maneuvers on technical terrain in advance from a bird’s-eye perspective. CCSAR-N has three members certified with the Federal Aviation Administration to pilot drones, and the team has used their personal drone equipment in the past, Rasmussen said. The forward-looking infrared system would allow the team to locate temperature hot spots created by human bodies even through dense tree cover. “It’s definitely a high-tech piece of equipment,” Rasmussen said. Last year, Chaffee County Search and Rescue North completed the test for accreditation by the Mountain Rescue Association’s Rocky Mountain Chapter by performing a staged avalanche rescue in January. To pass the test, a SAR crew needs...Florida man survives avalanche Thursday
by Brian McCabe Mountain Mail News Editor, 18-Jan-19 Jacob Beebe, 28, survived an avalanche Thursday on Cottonwood Pass, Sheriff John Spezze reported. Beebe, from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was on a private snowmobile tour with a commercial company when he was buried under about 6 feet of snow. Spezze said guides activated his beacon and dug him out after finding him under his snowmobile. Beebe was revived by the guides on site, then taken down to Denny Creek by snowmobile before being transferred to Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center in stable condition. The original call came in at 3:51 p.m., and Spezze said that besides the sheriff’s office, Chaffee County EMS, the U.S. Forest Service and Chaffee County Search and Rescue North were on hand for the...Donate to CCSARN
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