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February
26, 2001
In the 20 years since he began a crusade to finding the lost and injured, Mike Fink is haunted by the one mission that left more questions than answers. Three-year-old Jaryd Atadero wandered away from a group of hikers along the Big South Trail near Twin Lakes on Oct. 2, 1999, and disappeared. Two years later, Fink, a veteran of Larimer County Search and Rescue, struggles to reconcile leaving the wilderness without him. "To this day, he's still unanswered for," Fink says, his voice trailing off. "Until we find something, we'll all have this little empty spot in our hearts." Don Davis, who joined Larimer County Search and Rescue in 1981, remembers that mission well. "Team members drop everything for a missing child," Davis says. "It's hard when you find them dead or don't find them at all. Missions do affect team members. Jaryd had an impact on everyone." What they
There is no monetary reward for these professionals. But ask any one of them what the benefits are, and they are quick to answer. "Some of us live for it," Davis says. "Everyone has their own reasons for putting in the time. I do it because it is rewarding. Obviously, there are some real down times, but it's the people you work with that keeps you coming back." Larimer County Search and Rescue, an autonomous agency operating in conjunction with the Larimer County Sheriff's Emergency Services Unit, is made up of about 65 members who respond to nearly 70 calls a year. The agency is equipped with two trucks, a communications trailer and various gear including radios, avalanche beacons and medical supplies. The group relies on fund-raisers and donations for nearly everything, but they don't hesitate to dip into their own bank accounts for items the monetary gifts can't provide. Team members, on average, spend $2,000 in personal gear - for starters. "That's just the beginning," Davis says
The sacrifices and lack of funding, however, always seem to give way to pride in helping strangers. The reason is simple, Larimer County Search and Rescue president Karen Mianecki says. "It's a commitment to our community. I think for every one of us that's the driving force. We may not collect a paycheck, but this is our profession." The team has worked with every emergency response organization in the county, from police departments to the Diamond Peaks Ski Patrol, racing the clock to save lives. To be mission ready, they must be prepared for anything. Each member is equipped to spend at least 24 hours in the backcountry before the Power Bar supply runs out. But it is the extensive training that they rely on most. Everyone involved in search and rescue must have a minimum certification in first-responder first aid, although some also train to become Emergency Medical Technicians, or EMTs. Team candidates are subjected to a four-month basic member training with both classroom and field sessions that can range from 12 to 20 hours a week. There, they learn basic search techniques as well as mountaineering skills such as rappelling, tracking, and map and compass usage. After that, candidates can choose a discipline to pursue, such as rescue, snow or wilderness. They must then be able to demonstrate a level of competency to be certified or rated. After they are rated, team members can be deployed during search and rescue missions. But the training never really stops. "The dog teams have a practice session every weekend," says Allen Weaver, who works with Rosie, a yellow Labrador who has been certified in wilderness searches for about a year. "So, there are about 50 to 52 organized practices in addition to some statewide training." Although the best chance of survival is self-reliance and proper training, Larimer County Search and Rescue trains relentlessly to be able to find victims and each other during a rescue. Never was that put more to the test than during the Atadero search. A day after the boy
Four of the five men on board were with the Air Force. The fifth was Larimer County Search and Rescue member Mark Sheets. "I was in the field at the time when the helicopter crashed," Fink recalls. "I knew Mark Sheets was on there. Usually helicopter crashes don't have very good endings." Sheets suffered severed muscles in his left thigh, a broken shoulder and three broken vertebrae. He was the first of three victims airlifted to Poudre Valley Hospital. All five men survived the crash. All five were reached first by Larimer County Search and Rescue. "The field teams got on the scene quickly," Fink says. "People were putting themselves at risk to get to them and get them as far away from the helicopter as possible. ... I think just about everyone on the team was on scene that day. We exhausted about everybody, but we did it successfully. I felt good at the end of that day." The job can be an emotional ride. "I don't go out on every call," Mianecki says. "I've had to learn how to prioritize and balance what calls I can go on, which is very difficult. For me personally, I made a choice to be involved, and I knew what I was getting into. There would be situations the general public would never see. I realized I'd be doing body recoveries. I've also accepted the stress involved. "It's very difficult when your best isn't good enough." So why do they do it? Cheryl Kennedy, one of the team's veteran dog handlers, says it best. "Knowing you are bringing closure to the family, that helps you put it in perspective," she says. "Sometimes it's not easy. It's not that it doesn't affect you. It takes away from family, it takes away from hobbies, it takes away from work. But people's lives are at stake." She pauses, then adds: "I would want someone to do the same for me." |
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