Real emergencies interrupt search and rescue training

An Army National Guard helicopter lands during training in Agness for Oregon and California search and rescue members.

Curry County Marine Deputy Walter Scherbarth, who was on the marine boat by Paradise Lodge in the Rogue River, responded to the call of a woman who had been hit in the head with an oar and was experiencing dizziness, Sheriff John Bishop said.

“Deputy Scherbarth located the victim – Sherry Miller, 38, of Tacoma, Wash. – and her husband and took them to Foster Bar were they were met by Agness Rescue,” Bishop said.

“Dave M. Graves II, 54, Sunny Valley, had lost control of his motorcycle and left the roadway,” Bishop said. “Graves sustained major injuries, including a possible broken back, and was taken to Curry General Hospital.”

Bishop said upon further investigation, deputies will be asking for charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving and recklessly endangering to be filed against Graves.

The sheriff said participants from the National Guard, four Oregon and California counties and the U.S. Forest Service  trained together using military helicopters on Friday and Saturday.

About 25 members of the Army National Guard and two military helicopters joined about 40 search and rescue members from Curry, Jackson, Josephine and Del Norte counties and the U.S. Forest Service to conduct the joint training mission in GPS and Land Navigation between the Guard and California-Oregon Search and Rescue members, Bishop said.

“This training has been in the planning phase for several months and was the first of its kind in Curry County,” Bishop said.

Saturday training started with a helicopter safety briefing and demonstration on Air Grid Search Techniques and the FLIR system – an infrared system to allow the rescue personnel to see in the dark.

“It’s not night vision,” Bishop said. “It registers heat.”

The teams were divided up and sent out to different locations where there were GPS courses set up to train on land navigation. Two of the locations were accessible only by boat.

Bishop said in conjunction with this training, new equipment which had been purchased for emergency operations with federal grants was used.

“This equipment was used to help everyone become familiar with the equipment and learn the capabilities and limitations of each piece of equipment,” Bishop said.

Saturday evening, after the emergency calls and training exercises, everyone was treated to a barbecue dinner put on by Mike Luzmore – the owner of Fat Jack’s Barbecue.

“The training was so successful, it is already in the planning phase for next year, and will possible be longer, so that more scenarios can be conducted,” Bishop said.

The sheriff said he was pleased with all of the cooperation between the counties which participated and with the National Guard.

“This type of cooperation will do nothing but make us better in the time of emergencies,” Bishop said. “We were also able to use some of our emergency equipment to make sure there were no problems and to get us more familiar with the systems that we will be using in emergencies.”

Bishop said he would like to especially thank the United State Forest Service, Mike Luzmore, Cougar Lane, and the Agness Rogue River RV Park for their cooperation and allowing the use of their facilities and federal land for the invaluable training the search and rescue units received.