We've been standing here for two hours—me, two other volunteers, and Sergeant D—waiting to see if this is for real.
The helicopter flew earlier this afternoon and is now returning for another pass. For maybe a minute about an hour ago, I'd been sitting on an ATV with an armed police officer on another, but just as we were about to head out, a second officer arrived, and I had to give up my wheels and go back to just standing here. Darn, I was actually looking forward to getting some ATV experience. But... oh well.
The page came at around 5 p.m., while Steve and I were hanging out at a coffee shop. Apparently, a man in the area of Flagstaff's urban trail system (FUTS), in the woods south of Butler Avenue, had fallen and broken his leg and called for help. My husband said he could use some exercise and fresh air after sitting in that coffee shop for so long, so he offered to walk home and let me take the car to respond to the SAR building directly, and I accepted. The quicker I could get there the better since it would soon get dark and the injured hiker would be lying out there in pain, waiting for rescue. Now, however, we're not so sure the caller was a hiker. Or that he is injured.
When the team and our coordinator, Sergeant D, get to the staging area near Sam's Club—not the usual sort of location for a search and rescue mission to begin—a police officer is there, with two others already in the woods. The subject had contacted dispatch at least a couple more times since the original call, and, at one point, what sounded like arguing was heard in the background. Hence, the armed officers on ATVs.
Other interesting things came out of those subsequent calls. At first, the man said he had a green tent. Then it turned red. He said he had gasoline and a lighter, but, when asked to start a small signal fire, which the helicopter could spot, he refused, saying that would "hurt nature." The man would not even give his name. Given the search area, a popular place for transients to camp in the forest close to town, we're now thinking this man, who seems unwilling to participate in his own rescue, may just be jerking us around. Someone said he sounded drunk.
We hear on the radio that officers are talking to transients in the area, trying to figure out who may have called. One man tells them he thinks he knows who it was, but that lead goes nowhere. Wrong guy.
While all of this is going on, two members of our mounted unit show up. Huh, that's kind of strange for this type of mission. But Sergeant D explains that he was having trouble getting ground-pounders to respond tonight, so he made some calls to mounted. Many of our regulars are currently on an overnight as part of the "snow and ice" technical training, and others are out of town. Assuming this was a legitimate search and rescue mission—as he always would—Sergeant D wanted to get as many people out as possible.
Time goes on, and the horseback riders finish saddling up and head out to search. One of the ATV drivers returns for rope, to help get the other ATV out of the mud. And I keep standing here. Sergeant D suggests to dispatch that an officer go to the nearby convenience store and inquire about who may have recently purchased one of those disposable, prepaid cell phones. Sometimes store clerks get familiar with transients and can identify them. By now, the other two volunteers have gone back to the truck to keep warm and maybe take a nap, but I'm too nosy. So I just stand here some more.
Eventually, the officers return from the forest and decide that enough time and resources have been spent on this mission that seems to be going nowhere, with a supposed victim who won't help us help him. So they call their boss—the Police Chief, I assume—and Sergeant D calls his, and they receive permission to suspend. Sergeant D confirms that the caller was recorded, so he can enter those conversations into the report as evidence that the subject was being uncooperative.
We can't help but wonder if he's watching us from somewhere. Was this a test? Or was this guy just messing around? In any case, we tried.
These are my stories as a volunteer member of the Sheriff's Search and Rescue team in Coconino County, Arizona. I'll share what it's like to go from a beginner with a lot to learn to an experienced and, hopefully, valuable member of the team, as well as the missions, training, and other activities along the way.
