So it's a Saturday morning and the scanner is doing its thing. I'm reading an email from a friend about the Rough Fire in east Fresno county when 255.4 MHz pops up (Military Flight Service). It's a chinook with a flight change about heading over to to an area north of the fire. I hear the chinook advise that they're doing something with the local sheriff's department and will be diverting to their location.
I dialed up the tactical frequency for that area (151.130 MHz) and hear some chatter from what sounds like a SAR team. After a minute or two I discern there are several teams involved and that they are looking for someone. (Unfortunately, I am quite out of the loop on local news/events even with more radios than I need.) Anyways, a team calls back saying they located the hiker, but are still 20 minutes away from her location. (I'm confused about what I'm hearing as well)
The team finally reach her and she's not doing well. She has a bilateral lower leg fracture, but was calm and alert. They found her 11 S 0339133mE 41 06257mN. That's about 9000 feet ASL and a bit east of Courtright Reservoir. It's a nice area and I enjoy camping there myself.
Here's a link to those coordinates. The hike she went on was to Horsehead Lake, which is to the right of the location. Yes, it is the one that looks like a horse head.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/3...8114828,4801m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0
What struck me odd was the way the teams were talking about the person before they found her. I didn't understand how they knew she was missing and in that area. They also referred to her as the woman, so they knew who she was. That is what set me off looking up who the woman was and then finding that she had been up there for nine days. Yeah, all over the news/Internet sites, but I'm just too busy to follow things.
Anyways, that smoke from the Rough fire was and still is pretty bad. The chinook never made it in and a smaller helicopter made the trip. The comms on the freq identified that they would need to fly further north and then come down under the smoke layer and fly south to the LZ near where they found her.
1. She's lucky to be alive. It hits down into the 30's at that elevation, even during the summer months. I experience this myself when I'm up there.
2. Leg break and sore chest. She must have fallen a bit.
3. Those search and rescue people are great. That is a lot of effort for many days. They must have been looking for a body at that point. One of those teams were far off from the LZ where the chinook would pick them up early this morning. They had to hike another six hours or more to get back to the LZ to catch a ride home. Still, knowing the person was found alive would have made it an easier hike back for me.
I dialed up the tactical frequency for that area (151.130 MHz) and hear some chatter from what sounds like a SAR team. After a minute or two I discern there are several teams involved and that they are looking for someone. (Unfortunately, I am quite out of the loop on local news/events even with more radios than I need.) Anyways, a team calls back saying they located the hiker, but are still 20 minutes away from her location. (I'm confused about what I'm hearing as well)
The team finally reach her and she's not doing well. She has a bilateral lower leg fracture, but was calm and alert. They found her 11 S 0339133mE 41 06257mN. That's about 9000 feet ASL and a bit east of Courtright Reservoir. It's a nice area and I enjoy camping there myself.
Here's a link to those coordinates. The hike she went on was to Horsehead Lake, which is to the right of the location. Yes, it is the one that looks like a horse head.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/3...8114828,4801m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0
What struck me odd was the way the teams were talking about the person before they found her. I didn't understand how they knew she was missing and in that area. They also referred to her as the woman, so they knew who she was. That is what set me off looking up who the woman was and then finding that she had been up there for nine days. Yeah, all over the news/Internet sites, but I'm just too busy to follow things.
Anyways, that smoke from the Rough fire was and still is pretty bad. The chinook never made it in and a smaller helicopter made the trip. The comms on the freq identified that they would need to fly further north and then come down under the smoke layer and fly south to the LZ near where they found her.
1. She's lucky to be alive. It hits down into the 30's at that elevation, even during the summer months. I experience this myself when I'm up there.
2. Leg break and sore chest. She must have fallen a bit.
3. Those search and rescue people are great. That is a lot of effort for many days. They must have been looking for a body at that point. One of those teams were far off from the LZ where the chinook would pick them up early this morning. They had to hike another six hours or more to get back to the LZ to catch a ride home. Still, knowing the person was found alive would have made it an easier hike back for me.
