Officers. In case of emergency, call: (802) After the tone, enter your call back phone number.

Transcription

1 Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team 2013 Annual Report

2 Officers Team Leader - Scott Carpenter Executive Officer - Eric Bivona Dispatch Officer - Jan Largent Training Officer - Tom Bourgoine New Member Training Officer - Dan Schneider Safety Officer - Jim Mason Medical Officer - Jan Largent Equipment Officer - Tom Frawley Membership Officer/Secretary - Chris Northrop Treasurer - Tony Gove In case of emergency, call: (802) After the tone, enter your call back phone number. Mailing address: Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team PO Box 68 Hanover, NH address: UVWRT@dartmouth.edu To request information about joining the team: our Membership Officer, Chris Northrop: c.northrop@comcast.net

3 Hello Everyone, I wanted to wish everyone on the team along with all your friends, family members and, significant others the happiest of holidays. I'm so very proud of all the work and time you've spent over the last year helping people who were in need. It has been my pleasure to have worked with all of you over this last year. I would also to like to send thanks to those family members and significant others that make leaving in the middle of the night possible for us all, they truly are the unsung heroes of this team, I for one could not do this work out the support of my family. Happy Holidays to everyone, and a very healthy New Year. Scott Carpenter Team leader New Member hike on Mt. Cardigan. 1/26/13 1

4 2013 In Review The 21 callouts in 2013 represents a decrease in the number of callouts from last year and equals those in 2009 and 2010 with an expected and corresponding decrease in the total number of person-hours to almost exactly that of We opened the year with ten prospective new members and had six of them complete the training and stay with the team for the year. Our first callout was not until late May and activity picked up through the summer with seven callouts in September alone. The 21 total callouts for the year is slightly above our approximate average of 18 callouts per year over the 19 year existence of the team. For an additional analysis of the types of callouts and subjects we respond to, please see the document prepared by Jim Dambach at the end of the annual report. In 2014, we will begin with our fifth class of trainees. The membership window opens in December for interested persons to submit their applications and training begins in January following interviews and the initial screening process. (See the new member page for a listing of new member training (NMT) in 2013.) Some of the more noteworthy events in 2013 included: a search for a missing woman in Charlestown, NH involved in a domestic dispute that lasted over the course of nearly 10 days who was ultimately located deceased; a search for a missing person in Randolph, VT who was located hitchhiking in Manchester, VT - 77 miles away; a search in Goshen, NH for a 7 year old child missing after running after his dog who was found unharmed by a local resident; assisting with the carry out of an injured hiker form Mt. Cardigan; as the carry out from Mt. Cardigan concluded, we were called to assist with a carry out of an injured hiker from Mt. Osceola; a search for a 5 year old child in Gilmanton, NH who was located safely in Loudon, about a mile away from her last known location; a search for a missing person in Averill, VT adjacent to the Canadian border who was not located after two days of searching and remains missing; a search for an autistic male in his early 20's who was last seen coming down the Summit Trail at Mt. Sunapee State park who was located safe and sound by searchers; assisting in two days of searching for the missing teenager in Conway, NH, Abby Hernandez, who remained missing after an extensive search. She was later safely reunited with her family nearly 9 months after going missing. 2

5 The 2013 Annual Meeting was held in Chillcott Auditorium on May 16, Members present: Tom B., Tony G., Dave S-K., Dan S., Scott C., Tom F., Jim M., Chris N., Anna C., Colleen W., Mike F., Sam B., Tom T., Gerben S., John T., Ryan K., Dave C., Chris V., Eric B, Charlie M., Joel C., Ari K. NEK-9: Amanda P., Christine (trainee), Daniel L. Guests: Lt. Jim Kneeland; CO Tom Daiki; Felicia DiPietro, PsyD, LICSW; Christine Finn, MD; Andrea Macht, LICSW Social hour 6-7 in the café above Kellogg. Moved over to Chillcott Auditorium where Scott awarded callout certificates to the new members. Lt. Keenland gave a brief presentation about Fish and Game funding and how the department works and gave an update on the Hugh Armstrong search last year in Rumney. Felicia DiPietro, PsyD, LICSW; Christine Finn, MD; Andrea Macht, LICSW gave a presentation about persons suffering from depression, psychosis, delirium, substance abuse, dementia, agitation, suicidal, schizophrenia, alcohol and drug dependence. Daniel from NEK-9 said that they have adopted a new radio call for a subject who has been found but has some mental conditions that may be a danger to the searcher and needs immediate assistance. The new call is "white tag" which will prompt base and other searchers to stay off that radio channel but keep the radio on in case the find team needs to call if an unsafe situation arises. LE will immediately come to the location without being asked. If the subject flees, we let them go but note the location and direction of travel. If we found them once, we can find them again. NEK-9 will write up the protocol for all the tag colors and send them to us. 3

6 Summary of Events UVWRT participated in 39 events: 21 callouts, 14 trainings, 3 service events and 1 meeting. Date EventNumber Location State Activity Outcome 1/12/ Hanover NH New Member Introduction Day Officers met new members who were introduced to gear and navigation and then went through ICS and how UVWRT operates in NH & VT 1/26/ Orange NH New Member Winter Hike Hiked to the summit of Cardigan 2/7/ Hanover NH New Member Wilderness Medicine Review 4 Dan, tom and others ran the training 2/21/ Hanover NH NM introduction to NEK9 Amanda and Robyn ran the training 3/2/ Hanover NH NM Search Techniques Dan ran the training. 3/7/ Hanover NH NM Fundamentals of Navigation Dan ran the training 3/29/ Dorchester NH NM Night Navigation Training and Navigation Practical Dan ran the training 4/18/ Lebanon NH NM Night Navigation Drill Dan ran the training 4/27/ Hartford VT NM NEK9 Training NEK-9 ran the training 5/3/ Hanover NH full Team Drill at Oak Hill Tom B. and Tom F. ran the drill 5/16/ Hanover NH Annual team meeting Held the team meeting in Chillcott Auditoirum 5/25/ Fitzwilliam NH Search for a missing 29 y/o female. 6/9/ Effingham NH Search for a missing 18 y.o. female missing from the Lakeview Neurorehabitation Center. Subject was located alive. Subject located alive on the second day of searching. 6/28/ Charlestown NH Search for a missing 42-year-old Subject located Charlestown woman who might deceased on the third be severely hurt or possibly dead operational period. as reported by the New Hampshire Attorney General s Office. 7/13/ Hanover NH Provided safety and FA support for the walking portions of the Prouty event. 7/16/ East Randolph VT Search for a missing schizophrenic adult male. 7/31/ Goshen NH The team has been called out to search for a missing 7 y/o boy in Goshen, NH. The boy has been missing for 2hrs. He is out with his dog. Provided support for the event. Subject located hitchhiking in Manchester, VT on the second day. The subject was located alive just before teams were arriving. 8/14/ Orange NH The team has been called out to UVWRT assisted with

7 Date EventNumber Location State Activity Outcome assist with a carryout for a 230 lb injured hiker on the West SideTrail (Orange,NH side) of Cardigan. 8/14/ Livermore NH Carryout an injured hiker from Mt. Osceola. 8/31/ Chesterfield NH The team has been called out to search for a 61 y/o male in Chesterfield, NH missing since 13:30 this afternoon. 9/7/ Hanover NH Provide FA patrols for the Fido and Friends walk/run to benefit the Hanover girl s hockey team. 9/8/ Gilmanton NH The team has been called out to search for a missing 5 y/o in Gilmanton, NH. 9/13/ Benson VT The team has been called out to search for a missing 70 y/o male in Benson, VT. 9/15/ Plymouth NH The team has been called out to search for a missing homeless man in Plymouth, NH. 9/21/ Rochester VT The team has been callout out to search for a missing 22 y/o female in the Rochester/Braintree area of VT. 9/26/ Newbury NH Search for a 50 y/o male that has not been seen since Sept 14th. 9/29/ Newbury NH The team has been called out to help with a walkout/carryout on Mt Sunapee for a male with an apparent heart attack. 9/30/ Washington NH The team has been called out to search for a 71 y/o F missing in Washington, NH. This is a continuation of a previous search. 10/3/ Averill VT Search for the owner of a home that was destroyed by a suspected arson fire in the northern Vermont town of Averill. 10/8/ Newbury NH Search for an autistic male in his early 20's who was last seen coming down the Summit Trail at Mt. Sunapee State park. 10/10/ Conway NH The team has been called out to search for a missing 14 y/o F missing since yesterday. 5 the carry out. UVWRT assisted with the carry out. The subject was located alive before teams arrived. Provided support for the event. The subject was located alive in a barn in Loudon. The subject was located 1/4 mile from his home before search teams arrived. The subject of today's search has not been found and the search has been suspended pending further information. The subject of today's search has not been found and the search has been suspended pending further information. The subject was located deceased. The team was called off before anyone was enroute. The subject was not located. The subject was not located. The subject was located walking along Brook Road in Goshen. The subject was not located on the first day and remains missing.

8 Date EventNumber Location State Activity Outcome 10/20/ Hanover NH CHaD half marathon logistical/safety/on-course support. Provided support for this event. 10/22/ Hanover NH Low angle training. Eric and others led the training. 10/26/ Lyme NH High angle training. Tom, Jim and Eric ran the training. 11/14/ Hanover NH Hypothermia/cold weather injuries training. 11/16/ Jaffrey NH Mt Monadnock joint agency training. 11/19/ Benson VT Search for a missing 78 y/o female. 11/22/ Hartford VT The team has been called out to search for a missing 17 y/o M in Hartford, VT 11/22/ Center Sandwich NH The team has been called out to search for a missing 79 y/o M Alzheimer s patient in Center Sandwich. NH. Tom B. ran the training. Tom B. ran the training. The subject was located alive by a Boarder Patrol helicopter and airlifted back to her residence. Subject located alive - cold but responsive. 6

9 UVWRT provided 186 responders to all requested operational periods for the 21 callouts totaling 936 person-hours. For an additional analysis of the types of callouts and subjects we respond to, please see the document prepared by Jim Dambach at the end of the annual report. 7

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11 UVWRT welcomed 6 new members in Charlie Marshall, Enfield, Software Engineer Colleen Wearn, Norwich, Teacher Joel Coelho, Lebanon, Firefighter/Paramedic Ryan Knapp, Hanover, ED Physician Sam Brakely, Norwich, Trail Builder Tom Trimarco, Lyme, ED Physician 2013 New Member Training Schedule: UVWRT 2013 Annual Report New Members January 12, 2013 January 26, 2013 February 7, 2013 February 21, 2013 March 2, 2013 March 7, 2013 March 29, 2013 March 30, 2013 April 18, 2013 April 27, 2013 May 3, 2013 May 16, 2013 New Member Intro Day Hanover, NH 8:30 am - 3:30 pm New Member Winter Hike Mt. Cardigan 8:30 am - 3:30 pm Wilderness Medicine Overview Hanover, NH 6:00-9:00 pm NEK9 Intro Hanover, NH 6:00-9:00 pm Search Techniques Hanover, NH 8:30 am - 4:00 pm Fundamentals of Navigation Hanover, NH 6:00-9:00 pm Night Navigation training and overnight Green Woodlands Dorchester, NH 5:00 pm - overnight Navigation Practical Green Woodlands Dorchester, NH 8:00 am - 3:00 pm Night Navigation Drill West Lebanon, NH 6:00-10:00 pm NEK9 Training Hartford, VT 9:00 am - 2:00 pm Full team drill Hanover, NH 6:00-11:00 pm Biannual Team Meeting Hanover, NH 6:00-9:00 pm 9

12 2013 Membership Roster Alex Yerukhimov Hanover NH Andy Felegara Surry NH Anna Condino West Lebanon NH Ari Koeppel Hanover NH Bryan Tuten Dover NH Charlie Marshall Enfield NH Chris Northrop Concord NH Chris Valley Enfield NH Colleen Wearn Norwich VT Dan Schneider Hanover NH Dave Schullinger-Krause Woodstock VT David Collins Bellows Falls VT Eric Bivona Hanover NH Gerben Scherpbier Hanover NH Jan Largent Enfield NH Jeff Robinson West Lebanon NH Jim Dambach Bedford NH Jim Mason Lyme NH Joel Coelho Lebanon NH Maciej Kmiec Hanover NH Mick Foot Keene NH Ryan Knapp Hanover NH Sam Brakeley Norwich VT Scott Carpenter Wilmot NH Tim Coleman Spofford NH Tom Bourgoine Warner NH Tom Frawley Lyme NH Tom Trimarco Lyme NH Tony Gove White River Junction VT 10

13 Mt. Monadnock joint agency training. 11/16/13 A difficult search situation: "Danger - High Powered Shooting Range" 11

14 High angle training. 10/26/13 View from below. High angle training

15 The following is an analysis of the Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team searches over a 5 year period from During that time we participated in 109 Search and Rescue operations. The searches were organized by subject categories from Lost Person Behavior by Robert Koester. If a search category could not be determined or did not fit any of the subject categories they were listed under other. Any searches involving a child were automatically listed under child. Carry-out is not included in the Koester s Lost Person Behavior however, since it wasn t a search but a fixed point rescue it deserved its own category. The UVWRT Annual Reports count a search by event not operational search periods. Our actual callouts are about 30% higher than what the data shows. Each year we have 2 or 3 search events that run multiple operational periods. In other words you could get called 5 times in a week for the same search. The Beth Upton search in Waterville, NH in 2010 is probably the best example where the search was counted as one call-out but we were actually called to assist 13 different days Search Locations 24% NH VT 76% UVWRT-Jim Dambach August 2014 Version 1.0

16 Subject Status 8% 20% Found Alive Found Deceased Remain Missing 72% 48% of the UVWRT searches involve people participating in some sort of outdoor activity and 43% involve subjects with a psychiatric or mental health issue. The following is a detailed breakdown of search categories. Despondent Dementia Hiker Lost Child Carry Out Mental Illness Other Hunter Water Related Mental Retardation Homicide-Vehicular-Angler Search Categories 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% UVWRT-Jim Dambach August 2014 Version 1.0

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