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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 2020)
A3 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2020 SPECIALS FOR JAN 29 TH - FEB 4 TH Market LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED WHERE THE MEAT LOVER’S SHOP WIN up to $1k in prizes instantly! Hank Lunsford Search and rescue team members search for avalanche victims Jan. 7 at Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg, Idaho. New technology helps search teams in Pacifi c Northwest was one of Oregon’s fi rst to include drones in their search and rescue mis- sions. They started a yearlong training By COURTNEY FLATT about three years ago. Northwest News Network “I always thought that we would try to push the envelope a little bit Last year, Washington state’s King on technology,” Gubele said. “The County Search and Rescue was look- whole goal was to try to leverage the ing for a man who’d fallen in a very technology that was available to fi nd fast-moving river. They thought he missing people.” might still be in the water, but the Gubele said many groups use dif- banks were super steep and slick with ferent types of drones in their rescue mud. missions, depending on the situation. It’d be easy for even an experi- Some rescuers may hike with more enced searcher to fall in and be swept hobby-style drones they can use to away, no matter if they were wearing peek over cliffs. a fl oatation device. Other times, groups will use more To make things safer — and faster high-tech drones, outfi tted with multi- — they turned to technology. Specifi - ple video cameras, and at times, ther- cally, a drone. mal cameras. Software also allows The drone was able to zoom along searchers to fi lter out colors to, say, the river, up and down the bank. The search for a red backpack. The drone man wasn’t there, and search teams Mountain Wave uses also has the were able to quickly move along. ability to deliver small rescue items, “(Drones) allow us to search areas like radios or survival equipment, to that would be more dangerous to res- stranded or injured hikers. cuers,” said Glenn Wallace, the for- The group has used drones at the mer president of King County’s search Oregon C oast and in the Columbia and rescue team. “It’s really about River Gorge, among other missions, thinking about places like avalanche Gubele said. fi elds over a cliff, along a fast-moving “I do think that there is going to river — places that we be a lot more usage would hesitate to send of (drones). We’ve people to.” already seen that since ‘(DRONES) In those cases, we started,” Gubele ALLOW US TO drones help teams said. “What to watch quickly fi gure out for, just like with SEARCH AREAS out whether the person any technology, is if they’re looking for THAT WOULD you don’t use it a lot is over that cliff or in or don’t train a lot BE MORE that dangerous river, with it, you might not instead of spending be as effective as you DANGEROUS precious time get- need to be.” TO RESCUERS.’ ting into that area and Other technology putting the searchers that has aided tradi- Glenn Wallace | former at-risk. tional search and res- president of King County’s Or, if the drones cue efforts have actu- search and rescue team see clues that a per- ally been cell phones, son might be in a pre- Gubele said. carious spot — like “That’s made it a a jacket the missing person was last lot easier to fi nd lost people, provided wearing — that helps rescuers know, they can get some cell coverage,” “it’s worth the effort and the risk to Gubele said. “That technology has send a team in there to look,” Wallace gotten better and better and better.” said. Emergency cell calls can be less The volunteer group has used accurate when coming from very drones in about eight missions so far, remote locations. That’s where a pro- Wallace said, with around 20 trained gram called Enhanced-911 can help. pilots. They work in tandem with the King County’s Glenn Wallace said sheriff’s offi ce, although the drones E-911 has reduced the number of are owned either by the rescue group multi-day missions search crews have or individual volunteers. The group to go on. fi rst started to look into using drones “It’d say it is now seldom that we to help with search and rescue efforts have an overnight or multi-day mis- in January 2019. sion for someone who is missing in Like with any technology, there the wilderness,” Wallace said. are drawbacks. Drones can be hard New mapping technology, called to use when there are lots of trees SARTopo, also helps groups bet- around, which can limit both drones ter plan their searches before they and helicopters. start. Recently, RECCO technology, “A lot of our search and rescue which is a refl ector sometimes found efforts are still going to be on foot, in clothing and boots, helped fi nd calling out the subject’s name and try- the body of the third person killed ing to fi nd them,” Wallace said. by an avalanche on Silver Mountain, The weather, the Federal Aviation according to the Spokesman-Review. Administration fl ight rules for drones The King County group also out- and the resolution of the camera can fi ts their searchers with GPS dog col- also limit drone efforts. lars on carabiners, Wallace said. That In Oregon, Mountain Wave Search makes it easier to track each individ- and Rescue formed in the early ’90s, ual searcher in the fi eld. a few years after a group from Oregon While new technology may aid Episcopal School became stranded on search efforts, it’s not meant to replace Mount Hood. Nine people died in the traditional on-the-ground rescuers or disaster. in-the-air helicopter pilots. Search and Paramedic Russell Gubele decided rescue groups say they use each tactic to co-found a volunteer rescue group differently — drones could be good specializing in technology and com- for steep ravines, whereas helicopters munications, after struggling through could better search large areas. communications setbacks during the “Both things are always going to Mount Hood rescue. have to exist side by side,” Wallace Nearly 30 years later, with the said. “It’s sort of art and science that group’s technological bent, it wasn’t we use, and I think it’s just going to surprising to Gubele that his team keep evolving.” EVERY CARD IS A ! $ R U O WINNER!!! GET Y FRESH MEAT SPECIALS OF THE WEEK Help from drones BEEF RIB EYE STEAK BONE-IN $ 99 6 lb TENDER & JUICY PORK SHOULDER ROAST BONE-IN $ 99 1 lb GROCERY LANGER’S APPLE JUICE DIGIORNO PIZZA SELECTED VARIETIES 22.1 - 33.84 OZ LIMIT 4 ALL OTHERS 5.49 3 $ 00 5 $ 49 FOR 64 OZ #16745 #16745 4 Coupon cannot be exchanged for cash. 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