High Sierra Topix

Fellow Members,

The last few weeks I have been calling and requesting the agencies in all the counties encircling the Sierra, including Yosemite and SEKI, to alert us at the start of any SAR incident. Alerts will be then posted onto several other Sierra forums by myself and others, with a link back to the original thread here on HST. This was the initial purpose of starting this section.

This would allow the agencies to get information from a specific segment like hikers, backpackers, fishing people, and climbers, most importantly reaching folks who may have information related to the missing person/s in question and then relaying it to the incident commanders in the field.

No such system is currently in place. The counties do not work together in putting out such information, besides using facebook and the news media, which unfortunately does not reach these outdoor communities in many instances.

Some agencies will post here directly. Others requested that they would rather e-mail me directly and that I post the information here myself.

Hopefully with this new centralized system we will be able to assist SAR in relaying vital information to field incident commanders, and therefore increase the chances of fellow lost or injured backpackers/climbers to be reunited with their family and friends.

Thank you.

This is an excellent idea. Among the many great aspects of this site, I cannot think of a more important use of HST. Great thinking.

Hi Mav,
I'm amazed that in this era of instant communication that a better information-gathering system has not been developed. It looks like you may be the catalyst to get something in place for the SAR folk and help them to focus efforts. Great idea! Cameron

maverick wrote: ↑Thu Oct 06, 2016 5:30 pm
This would allow the agencies to get information from a specific segment like hikers, backpackers, fishing people, and climbers, most importantly reaching folks who may have information related to the missing person/s in question and then relaying it to the incident commanders in the field.

No such system is currently in place. The counties do not work together in putting out such information, besides using facebook and the news media, which unfortunately does not reach these outdoor communities in many instances.

Mav, I respectfully disagree. Having worked within a County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) I can tell you that their organization chart can be complicated and trying to identify a specific group to reach out to could easily get botched or lost in the already saturated communications chain. FB does work and is not going to go away anytime soon so I think the HST administrators and/or moderators need to take on the responsibility and figure out a way for FB to work for us and not throw it back onto the County agencies to figure it out.

I think HST does a great job getting out information on in progress sar incidents. In the most recent incident, for example, I received the mass email directing me to the forum. The HST community is different than FB in that members tend to put a lot of thought and time into what they post. Unlike FB which tends to be a collection of many posts some of which are unrelated and unhelpful. On HST, people really pull together and do their best to be constructive which is crucial for sar incidents. That's one reason among many why I am a proud member of HST.

I'm glad HST is involved in co-ordinating info. Of course the SAR agencies should focus their time on the most popular means to spread news (FB), but I'm very happy to have an alternative to FB.

There is currently a search for a young woman in YNP. Saw it on Instagram. Saw on Instagram but can’t find now. Only a couple days old, young female near Ostrander Lake area. Sorry for lack of any details.

fpb56 wrote:

There is currently a search for a young woman in YNP. Saw it on Instagram. Saw on Instagram but can’t find now. Only a couple days old, young female near Ostrander Lake area. Sorry for lack of any details.

YNP:

UPDATE (July 24 at noon). Yailine has been found within the search area with just a few scrapes and is in good condition. She is being reunited with her family.