By Kristin Owens
Utah County?s search and rescue division is constantly preparing for searches like the one that led to Tuesday?s find of Boy Scout Brennan Hawkins in Summit County.
The 50 volunteers undergo rigorous training that includes learning rope, ice, scuba and swift-water rescue techniques ? one volunteer estimated that he spends well over 100 hours a year training. The team is called out on searches and rescues about once every three days, Utah County Sheriff?s Sgt. Tom Hodgson said.
?A search and rescue organization like ours is the most valuable community organization that we could have or ever hope to have,? Utah County Sheriff?s Sgt. Dennis Harris said.
When a call comes in and is approved by the incident commanders, all volunteers are alerted on pagers that they carry at all times. Most calls concern lost or injured hikers, and cover Utah County areas such as Mount Timpanogos, Aspen Grove, Utah Lake and high mountain lakes.
Volunteers include state senators, nurses, lawyers, housewives, and mechanics, Hodgson said. Chris Reed, a local engineer, has been a Search and Rescue volunteer since 1979, when his work as an EMT made him aware of the opportunity. Since then, he estimated that he has been called on almost 2,700 missions, serving as a medical technician, canine handler, scuba diver, man tracker and more. He contributes his own Hummer, all-terrain vehicle, Jet Ski and hovercraft to the searches.
?The neat thing is that we?re from all walks of life, but when we?re given an assignment and we?re on the mountain it?s a high-stress, team environment ? you go in as a group to solve a problem and a life can hang in the balance,? Reed said. ?When everything goes right ? wow. That?s what I enjoy.?
Most people lost in the wilderness are found within the first eight hours, Hodgson said, although searches can last anywhere from two hours to two or three days.
Part of what makes the searchers? task difficult is the human tendency to keep going when lost, Hodgson said. A lost hiker may walk to the top of the nearest ridge and then want to see from the top of the next. The more a person moves, the larger the search area has to expand, which decreases the chances of a find.
?Finding Brennan Hawkins in good health after four days is, quite frankly, an incredible find,? Hodgson said. ?If there?s a lesson to be learned, it?s that you never give up on a search because they haven?t given up on themselves.?
While the Utah County search and rescue volunteer team covers the area?s unincorporated wilderness, Provo has its own Mountain Rescue Response Team that responds to calls from Rock Canyon to Slate Canyon on the west side of the mountains.
Many of the injuries the team responds to occur in the popular climbing area of Rock Canyon.
?Rock Canyon is close to the city, and so inexperienced, untrained people go up to free climb and are susceptible to making mistakes and being injured,? said mountain rescue leader Lt. Scott Finch.
Twelve firefighters, paramedics and police officers make up the response team, which answers calls about once a month. Last week the team happened to be training in Rock Canyon when they were called to rescue a young climber who fell 15 feet when his improperly harnessed gear gave way.
Most search and rescue missions could have been avoided if people used common sense and did not go out unprepared, without proper equipment and without paying attention to the weather, Reed said. He estimated only 10 out of 100 calls are genuine accidents.
?People think that search and rescue people are hard, no emotion, but sometimes you cry right along with the victims,? Reed said. ?The little kids are the ones that get you, it just jerks your heart right out.?
In the case of lost hikers, the first steps the team takes are to gather information about the individual and use this to determine a high probability area to search, Finch said. The circumstances determine how large of a search needs to be made and whether the Utah County Search and Rescue will be called for support.
Searchers use special software that computes variables like the age of the lost person and the type of terrain they are in to determine what their wandering patterns might be.
?Stay put!? Hodgson advises anyone who may become lost in a wilderness area. ?Find a good place to be observed?a place to wait, not hide.?
A lost person should ?hug a tree and S.T.O.P.,? Finch said. Stay calm; Think what is going on, Observe your surroundings; and Plan?find shelter for the night and plan to keep warm. It is also important to tell someone where you are going and when you will be back, and to bring plenty of water, food, a jacket and a cell phone when hiking.
In some cases, Finch said, a ?lost? BYU student was not actually lost, but did not tell friends where he or she was going to hike, and was later found safe at a different apartment.
Despite the long hours, physical demands and the sacrifices required of their families, Utah County?s volunteers continue to dedicate their time and talents to rescue missions.
?I remember one Thanksgiving dinner ? the pager went off, and there was a car upside down in the Provo river,? Reed said. ?My wife had spent all day preparing and I just took off, but by the time I got home she understood that I had to go.?