Searches

In the early evening of November 10th, PNW recieved a call from our neighbors in Washington County to assist in looking for a missing 48 year old man who had wandered away from his home and had not been seen since Sunday.  21 PNW members converged upon a rural crossroads to join with multiple other agencies in the search for the subject.  Tillamook County, Washington County, NORSAR, and of course the good people of Mountain Wave Communications were all present as well.

For the third day in a row, PNW members joined in the search efforts for a missing fisherman who was swept away by the fast moving waters of the Sandy River.  The 8 responding PNW members formed two ground teams, searching the banks downstream of Dodge Park and re-searching some areas of high probability that were more accessible with the water level receeding over the past two days.  Again joining the search were three boat teams from the Clackamas River rescue consortium, and excellent communications were provided by Mt.

On November 1st, 26 PNW members responded to the continuation of the call from the previous day.  A fisherman was swept downriver from the Cedar Creek area of the Sandy River.

Along with the PNW teams, 3 boats were deployed from various water rescue organizations, and the helicopter from the Coast Guard station in Astoria returned as well.  Mt. Wave communications provided communications, transportation and other logistical support.

In the late afternoon of October 31st, PNW was called to the Sandy River near the fish hatchery for a missing fisherman.  15 PNW members arrived and deployed on short searches of the riverbanks for a fisherman who had been swept away by the turbulent and muddy waters.  As night fell, the searchers were recalled to base to plan for redeployment in daylight the next morning.

The subject was fishing with his son when both were swept away down the Sandy River.  The son managed to make it to shore and is reportedly in good condition.  The man remains missing.

In the early afternoon of October 30th, PNW was put on standby for a possible missing hiker near Roslyn Lake.  Shortly thereafter, PNW was activated for a callout for the now confirmed missing hiker.  As the 18 PNW responders were driving towards the area, the subject walked out to a road where he was found by the ever vigilant folks from Mt. Wave communications.  Mt. Wave immediately notified PNW so the responders could return home.

In the afternoon  of October 25th, PNW was activated by Washington State dispatch to assist in finding a missing mushroom hunter.  Initially, the response area was to be around Cougar Washington, but was later changed to somewhere near Randle Washington.  As members were responding to the first area, PNW leaders asked for clarification of where the search area was to be located.  Until such time, PNW was recalled and placed on standby for a possible reactivation.

On the evening of October 22, PNW was called to assist their Washington State colleagues in a search for a missing mushroom hunter.  The base was to be near Mt. St. Helens, about an hour North of Stevenson, Washington.  PNW was asked to assemble at 7am the next morning.  Around 10pm PNW was called off.

While many PNW members were starting their last day of SARCon in Welches, a callout for a missing hunter in the vicinity of Bagby Hot Springs was relayed by Mt.

In the afternoon of September 27th, PNW was put on standby to assist AMR with an injured male on the Pacific Crest Trail near Clackamas Lake.  AMR was able to extricate the patient without PNW progressing to a callout.

In the late afternoon, PNW was activated to assist the AMR Reach and Treat team with packing out an injured equestrian on the Pacific Crest Trail about two miles from the Frog Lake parking lot.  The first five PNW responders hustled up the trail with the stokes litter and packaged the patient while the later arriving members formed another team of five and headed up the trail to relieve the initial responders.  Due to the severity of the injuries to the patient and the great distance from a hospital, Lifeflight was called to transport the patient, staging in the parking lot until