RACES Notes 03/22/2006 News and Announcements 1) Upcoming Events Mar 25 - MCU Training Apr 29-30 - La Vuelta de Bisbee Bike Race 2) I am scheduling a MCU overview and introduction class this coming Saturday. The purpose is to familiarize our operators with the basic operation of the MCU and how to set it up for basic mission operations. Another training will be scheduled later on the ACU 1000 and the control software when everything is fully operational. We will conduct three sessions: 8-10, 10-12, and 13-15. This will ensure everyone gets a chance to see the system and get a little hands-on experience with things like setting the power panel setup, automatic jack stands, and pneumatic mast operations. 3) Recent Missions a. Black Tail Canyon Cave - Probably the most challenging mission I have seen. We were called out about 8:30 Thursday evening to assist in the recovery of a student who had gone into a cave and fell into a deep hole well into the cave. The initial problem for the searchers was to determine which passageway he had gone into. There were several long vertical descents or drops that needed to be negotiated as well as some very long narrow passages. Since the missing student was in and out of consciousness, he was unable to assist the rescuers find him by responding to verbal stimulus or even help crawling out. He was located about 0240 in the morning. Due to the difficulty in negotiating all the vertical drops, additional experienced climbers/cavers were requested. At one point there was about 70 persons in the cave either looking or assisting by setting up rope systems to lift him past all the vertical lifts that needed to be accomplished. In all about 169 persons responded to assist in this effort. My hat is off to the folks who went into the cave to pull this young man out. They were faced with crawl spaces barely large enough to get through, wet muck, bat guano and who knows what else as they professionally and safely extricated this young man. We had three channels active in the MCU, the Border Patrol BORSTAR frequency, the basic Cochise SAR channel and a UHF channel used by the Pima County team. b. Kartchner Caverns - On Sunday afternoon we received notification of a lost family of four that had gone for a hike and ended up being overtaken by unexpected bad weather. We got a real break in the weather and AZ DPS helicopter was used to good effect to locate them, even with the reduced visibility. Once lifted off the mountainous terrain, the kids were starting show effects of hypothermia but were OK. One of our main contributions was to make hot chocolate in the micro wave for the kids to help them warm up. c. Carr Canyon Road Closure - Slippery roads caused by snowy weather caused the Carr Canyon access road to get jammed up. We were called to assist in getting people off the mountain. The SAR team used ATVs to reconnoiter the mountain and ensure everyone got off safely. Lots of hot coffee was consumed. It was darn cold, especially if you were out there on the ATV in the blinding snow. Our primary role was to monitor the ATV teams by radio and make hot coffee for the crews. Training: So we had three very totally different type missions in a very short period of time, what did we learn? First you never know what you might be expected to do and for how long. The cave mission lasted 23 hours. Fortunately the Army provided food, drink and Porta-Pottis so I did not need to rely on my MREs or to use the entrenching tool. But this was only the second time I have needed my medicine bottle with my daily dose of prescription medications but I was sure glad I had it with me. We did not have extra spare batteries in the MCU for the flashlights and handi-talkies that needed fresh charges after the first 8 hours of operations. We need to look at getting one of the SAR Battery Chargers in the MCU. We also learned that our nice new chairs roll down hill. The other chairs we had did not do that. It is more important to ensure you have selected a suitable level spot for the van or you will find yourself rolling down hill on a regular basis. The jack stands will help but they are mainly designed for stabilization, not leveling. Be careful or you may even find yourself rolling out the back door if you aren't paying attention. I am sure the others who were on this mission will have a few lessons learned to share with us this evening as well. On the Kartchner mission, I was glad I had my instant hot chocolate in my Go Bag. The poor kids were very cold and a little hot chocolate helped warm them and bring their spirits up pretty quickly. By the way, the new microwave works pretty well for heating water for hot chocolate or cold sandwiches. Other SAR members provided dry sweatshirts and blankets to the kids to help them warm up. That mission could have lasted a lot longer if the DPS helicopter had not found them so quickly. We were all lucky with the break in the weather. Frankly I am not sure how long the kids or even the adults could have held out in that weather. On the third mission, there was not a lot to do on the radio but we had plenty of cold and hungry SAR members. Roger, W7RGP, and I took it upon ourselves to stop at Mickey D's on the way and pick up some basic burgers and fries. There were some really grateful workers when we arrived. My thanks to Dale, NJ7C, for calling in our order as we were on the way between Kartchner and Carr Canyon to help expedite the order process. I think we made the staff at McDonald's happy as they were not experiencing much business at that time of the afternoon on a snowy afternoon. We have also added a "Coffee Donation" can to the MCU to help defray the cost of coffee and supplies. So lessons learned, check your Go-Bag. Is it ready for this kind of weather? Do you have the items you need to work an extended shift if you need to? When was the last time you checked it? Have your medications been rotated in the past 3 months? When was the last time you checked the batteries in your flashlight? Do you have a flashlight? And a backup light? That's plenty for tonight, now let's go down the roster for comments. Bob Robert L Hollister