James Kim's & Oregon's SAR Improvements?

[RADIOMAN015]

Well we are at the 2 year anniversary of James Kim's death. Background can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim ..  Wondering if someone from Oregon Wing can address the changes in Ground SAR Operations that have taken place in the state, to improve procedures?  Probably a good article for everyone to read above & think about how you can be a proponent for changes in your state for missing person SAR ops.  Personally I'd like to see some emphasis on the use of FIND ME SPOT GPS/Emergency Transmitter and for the occasional outdoors person at least an FRS radio turned to channel 1, with appropriate monitoring capability by air & ground forces.
Very easy exercises to plan & run.
RADIOMAN   

[Flying Pig]

I am aware of the incident, but what were the failures in the SAR system?  Nobody even knew they were missing right?

[Stonewall]

Personally I'd like to see some emphasis on the use of FIND ME SPOT GPS/Emergency Transmitter and for the occasional outdoors person at least an FRS radio turned to channel 1, with appropriate monitoring capability by air & ground forces.

The problem is that this was a rather suburbanite family, not an "occasional outdoors person" as you mentioned.  If this were someone like you or me, this wouldn't have reached the headlines because we would have made ourselves visible to searchers, or even before that, we would have used our GPS to find ourselves out of the spot. 

The average person does not plan for situations like this.  People with a military background, emerency services, or perhaps even outdoorsmen "forward think" when going on a road trip, especially to a region known for harsh winters.  But if you took an accountant from my company and sent him on a road trip, the closest thing to a contingency plan or emergency equipment would be his blackberry.  Which, is a useful tool if it's a) charged, b) near cell towers or c) he knows how to use it.

[Eclipse]

My understanding was that the weather and terrain generally exceeded CAP's capabilities and that when our services were offered the local agency in charge (Sheriff?) waived us off in favor of helos and other organizations.

My general impression was that our issue was we couldn't really get into the game.

[Stonewall]

Here is an interesting site depicting the entire situation as it played out.  From the Kim family's "wrong turn" to his 16 mile walk.

[Flying Pig]

Why he ever chose to leave the road is beyond me.  Most of the SARs Ive been on, we always find a marker left by the lost person.  A sign stuck to a tree, an arrow set up with rocks showing where they went, etc.  I was on a SAR with a mother and her teenage son for two days once.  When we finally found them, the teenage son said that whenever he heard the helicopter fly over, and his mother stood under a tree out of view because since we were so low, they thought we had seen them and were getting out of the way so we could land.   Then we would just fly right on by.

I think its odd that Kim chose to take the drainage vs. staying on the roads.  I guess we'll never know.

[Larry Mangum]

SAR in Oregon has changed considerably since the Kim incident. The after action report that was conducted points to significant failure on part of the agencies controlling the search.  ICS was not properly implemented. The state reorganized how SAR is conducted based upon the report and CAP is now considered a major play by the state.

[sardak]

After the Oregon State Sheriff's Association published its after action report, the Oregon governor created a SAR Task Force. One of the members of the task force was an Oregon wing member.

After the Task Force published its findings, the governor created the "Search and Rescue Policy Commission," with a member of ORWG on it, to follow up on the work of the Task Force. The executive order states that the Commission will present a report annually to the governor beginning June 1, 2007.

A Google search and searches of the Oregon governor's office and Oregon OEM websites find no reports issued by the Commission. The list of Oregon boards and commissions doesn't even list the SAR Commission. However, I've heard, and as Larry said, there were changes made to Oregon law regarding SAR as well as procedural changes by SAR agencies. For those really interested, the OEM-SAR office should be able to provide the details.

Mike

Previous CAP-Talk discussion
The search
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=1130.0

Sheriff's AAR
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=1419.0

Task force findings
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=1874.0