Rescue 3/28/2010

A young woman, age 20, became separated from her mother while hiking in the hills above Tanoble Drive. She became lost and was unable to proceed further. She telephoned for assistance using her cell phone and AMRT and AIR-5 were called out. With assistance from AMRT members on the ground, AIR-5 was able to locate the lost hiker and lift her to safety. The AIR-5 crew landed at Farnsworth park and turned the woman and her dog over to AMRT for medical evaluation. Both the the hiker and her dog were uninjured with only minor scratches. Later in the day it was feared that her mother had also become lost but she completed her hike and AMRT members met her as she was returning to her car via Loma Alta Drive.

3/26/2010 AMRT at Eliot Middle School

Altadena Mountain Rescue team members visited Eliot Middle School Friday, March 26th, to promote wilderness safety and inform students about the exciting programs and opportunities that exist within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Students enjoyed talking with veteran and new team members. The team demonstrated rescue equipment and answered students' questions about the many search and rescue operations the team has successfully handled in its 59-year history.

Retiring Captain Roosevelt Blow and his successor, Lieutenant Steven McClean, attended the event along with Sheriff's Department representatives from various law enforcement programs including the mounted posse and a bloodhound tracking team.

Patrol Report 3/21/2010

Traffic was heavy at all of our trailheads. Lonnie has fixed the stream crossing near his trailer, and Brown Mt road is passable to Risinghill.

The damage in Millard, El Prieto, and the Arroyo is very impressive. We went up the Arroyo to the forest service houses, and the road disappears at that point. Brown Mt road is washed out at the El Prieto stream crossing. Several old dams that were buried have been uncovered. Kind of neat to see.

AMRT at the Mountain Rescue Recertification

The Altadena Mountain Rescue participated in the 2010 California Regional MRA search and tracking recertification at Malibu Creek State Park in Calabasas California last weekend. Search and rescue teams from all over California came to the event in order to recertify their search and tracking skills with the state chapter of the Mountain Rescue Association.

Most of the Altadena team members headed down to Malibu Creek Park on Friday night for camping and our traditional feast of carne asada prepared by our beloved head chef James. We towed the mobile command center from the Altadena Sheriff's station down and parked it next to our campsite. We had a lot of fun camping, the weather stayed good, and everyone woke up refreshed and ready for the recertification testing.

All teams were tested in four areas, tracking, locating an emergency radio beacon, medical care, and performing a grid search. We are proud to report that AMRT passed all areas with flying colors. As the event ended the rain started and we packed up and returned to Altadena in the pouring rain. Fortunately, one of the new members had the bright idea to pick up some pizza on the way home so we had something to eat while we unpacked and cleaned up!

Above are some photos of our participation at the various events. Note how happy our "patient" looks due to the excellent medical care provided by our team.

Rescue 3/4/2010

A man fell and injured his arm in Eaton Canyon near the first falls. AMRT, L.A. County Fire, and Pasadena Fire all responded to the event with County fire providing incident command. Our hasty team was first to the victim followed by fire department paramedics. As the paramedics were treating the patient's arm two additional teams from AMRT arrived on scene followed by more firefighters. AIR-5 was unable to perform a winch operation to extract the patient so it was determined that AMRT and fire would cooperate in walking the man back down the canyon and out to Pinecrest gate. Several wet stream crossings later we arrived at the gate and the man, a citizen of France who is currently residing in Princeton, New Jersey, was placed in the ambulance to get warmed up and to be further evaluated.