“Out of Tragedy Is Born a Team”

“YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHO HAS YOUR BACK and you have to trust him,” became the unspoken mantra of the newly formed San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team.

In February of 1958 a group of students and their parents traveled to Forest Falls, California to play in Mill Creek. One of the students, Donald Burns, wandered off and fell over three hundred feet down the face of Big Falls near the picnic area where his friends and family played. Donald miraculously survived his fall, but was left stranded and severely injured on a high ledge over one hundred feet from the base of the falls. Deputy Sheriff Willard Farquhar of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department was the first to respond to the scene. As night enveloped the falls, Donald could be heard screaming over the roar of the water.

Attempts to reach Donald by Deputy Farquhar and other Sheriff’s personnel were unsuccessful since San Bernardino County had no experienced rescue personnel or climbing equipment available. Volunteer firemen from Forest Falls and some rescue personnel from Norton Air Force Base also made rescue attempts to save Donald. They worked for twenty-four hours straight to reach Donald, but no one was able to get closer than about fifty feet. It was said that one rescuer could see Donald feebly waving his hand to him. But all attempts were unsuccessful. Conditions in the area were cold and foggy overnight. The ropes were freezing with the spray of water from the falls and the rocks in the area were coated with a thick layer of ice.

Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.
Malcolm Forbes
US art collector, author, & publisher (1919 - 1990)
Have you noticed that our ability to conduct effective search and rescue operations in this county has been greatly increased by technology. I had an opportunity to utilize some of this new technology on my latest call-out.

Night Vision was something we all had heard about over the last couple of years, but never had access to it because of the expense. Well, our own Sheriff’s Aviation Division has just about finished all of their training to get the night vision program up and running. This new technology came into play with a 15 year old missing female hiker in the Dry Lake area of the San Gorgonio Wilderness on April Fools Day.

The members of the San Gorgonio Search and Rescue team held a picnic in Redlands to thank all of the supporters of the team. Through their generous donations, we were able to purchase a new truck. This new 4 X 4 truck (Pictured abovve with team and donors that attended the picnic) will be used to transport tem members and equipment to searches. We would like to thank all of the donors that helped us purchase our new vehicle! The pictures of the picnic, the new vehicle and the new surburban the Sherrif purchased for the team can be found here http://www.sgsar.org/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=44

By Shannon Kovich, SARTech II San G/VTF SAR

Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.

We all in the SAR community understand mistakes, it is our business. We try to teach the public those minimal survival tips in a hope that someday, when they get themselves in a survival position, it will be useful to them. I have no ideal of how many people in the national forest, self rescue, because we don’t get those calls. The husband of Melissa Foo took the right steps. He contacted Law Enforcement right after a quick search of the area for his wife.