Beaverhead Search And Rescue News

Article Credit to: Kolby Malesich, Commander

Beaverhead County Search and Rescue had a fun joint training Saturday March 29, with Ruby Valley Search and Rescue.  It was a great training and was fun to collaborate with other agencies including Ruby Valley SAR, Beaverhead County Sheriff Department, and Life Flight.   It was a great opportunity for our members to get some great training and meet other involved in the same types of events we are involved in…   BVHD SAR members participating in the event are:  David Broadhead, Steve Mock, Lance Hopman, Tara Remely, Brad Wagner, Adam Norlander, and Kolby Malesich.  A big thank you to Adam Norlander for Coordinating the event in partnership with Ruby Valley.  Tara Remely and Brad Wagner coordinated the food and cooked for the entire group.

Ruby Valley FB Post:

Saturday, March 29th, we were invited to participate in a join training with Beaverhead Search and Rescue. We had a great day with several different training stations. There was a station training on search techniques in an avalanche scenario. How to operate probe lines in the snow, the use of avalanche beacons. The second station trained on the treatment of hypothermia patients. And the third station was training on ice rescue and the use use of various equipment on thin ice.

In the afternoon Steve Schmid from Life Flight Network came out and gave use some great information selecting a landing zone and how to coordinate helicopter landings with the pilot. Shortly after that Kevin, one of the pilots from Life Flight came out with the helicopter and we were able to practice loading patients into a waiting helicopter.

Due to not having a full crew on the helicopter we were not able to practice hot loads, but we did talk about how to operate around a running helicopter and were able to practice as though it was a hot load. All in all, it was a great day of training and we couldn't have asked for better weather to train in. A huge thank you to Beaverhead Search and Rescue and Life Flight for making this training possible.