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Friday, September 4, 2009
Weary rescuers save hikers
By Alexis Bechman

September 4, 2009

A day before the Water Wheel Fire started, it was a normal Saturday afternoon with people hiking throughout the Rim Country.

While most returned home safely, a handful of people narrowly escaped disaster.

The volunteers with Tonto Rim Search and Rescue responded to three calls for service, two involving a group of Boy Scouts and the other a couple from the Valley.

The first call came in around noon. A Valley woman, in her early 40s, was hiking with a friend. As they hiked through Box Canyon, the woman rolled her ankle. Somehow, they both fell together. She broke her ankle, the man with her, injured his knee and ankle.

Box Canyon is a deep fissure several miles long that includes dozens of pools hikers enjoy swimming and fishing in. Located just 20 miles east of Payson, it is a popular place on the weekends.

Thinking the pair was in the canyon where 80 percent of people injure themselves, Commander Bill Pitterle had his crew begin unloading gear above the fifth swimming hole.

This spot is so common for rescues, TRSAR drilled anchors into the rock to lower rescue litters off it. They also train at the spot several times a year.

However, Christopher/Kohl’s Fire Department determined the pair was not in the swimming hole but actually a half a mile farther down the canyon.

“It was extremely difficult to get to them,” Pitterle said.

It took rescuers several hours to hike through “incredibly rough terrain” to reach the site directly above the pair.

Once there, the rescuers set up their gear and lowered a litter 500 feet down to the woman. At least 20 volunteers helped pull the woman up. The man, although complaining of injuries, was able to hike out.

The volunteer rescuers carried the woman out. Most didn’t make it home themselves until after 8:30 p.m.

During that rescue, Pitterle received a call around 12:30 p.m. saying a Boy Scout needed to be rescued from Fossil Springs. Reportedly, a rock had rolled and struck the Scout, injuring him.

Pitterle called more TRSAR volunteers and sent them to the creek to help with the rescue.

A helicopter was able to land in the canyon and fly the boy out.

The extent of the Scout’s injuries is unknown, Pitterle said.

Several hours after the Scout was injured, Pitterle got another call from the same Boy Scout troop, this time reporting that one of the Scout leaders had become dehydrated.

Again, TRSAR went to the canyon, delivered water to the troop and helped the uninjured but suffering man back out of the canyon.

However, TRSARs weekend wasn’t over yet. On Sunday, they were called to help evacuate homeowners in Geronimo Estates because firefighters feared the Water Wheel Fire might accelerate under the influence of strong winds and quickly cover the four miles or so to the isolated development clinging to the sides of a steep, narrow, thickly forested canyon.

Ultimately, winds shifted in the firefighters’ favor, so the flames never seriously menaced Geronimo Estates.

This year has been extremely busy for TRSAR, which has already responded to at least 38 calls — two calls over their record.

“And the year’s not even over yet,” Pitterle said.

On Friday,(Nov27th) around 3:45 p.m., Tonto Rim Search and Rescue received a call from the Gila County Sheriff’s Office that a man was stuck on a remote trail off the Barnhardt Trail and needed help getting back to his car.

Reportedly the man planned to hike a loop through the mountains, starting out on the Barnhardt Trail and then taking the Rock Creek Trail around to his car.

This is a “fairly aggressive” hike that is not commonly used, Commander Bill Pitterle said.

The man hiked in about nine miles, got off the trail at some point and found himself trapped in an area with cliffs.

“He couldn’t go up or down and he wasn’t prepared for an overnight, so he called,” Pitterle said.

Luckily, the man had a cell phone and a GPS with him so he told rescuers exactly were he was.

Pitterle and a rope team member of the all-volunteer search and rescue squad drove to the Mazatzal Mountains and were getting ready to hike the nine miles to the man when a Department of Public Safety ranger helicopter was able to pick him up uninjured.

The man was flown to his vehicle and “continued on his way back home,” a press release states.

joe bartels wrote:A DPS chopper did an AIR rescue or they landed in the area where he couldn't go "up or down"...

Heat spurs wave of rescues
Close call for groups of brave special needs kids
By Alexis Bechman

June 8, 2010

This weekend’s sweltering temperatures kept rescuers busy with three rescues happening simultaneously Sunday.

From a large group of dehydrated, disabled hikers to a woman who nearly lost her life from heat stroke and a boy who

smacked his head while swimming in Fossil Creek, all three groups set out to enjoy the warm summer weather, but found out the heat is nothing to take lightly.

About 4:10 p.m., rescuers received calls that a group of 23 hikers, some disabled, were out of food and water on the 260 Trail. Around the same time, a call came in that a 13-year-old boy had smacked his head while swimming at the bottom of the Fossil Springs Trail and could not walk out on his own.

Reportedly, three disabled persons in the large group on the 260 Trail were tired and thirsty and one man sat down and refusedrefused to move, said Gila County Sgt. Terry Hudgens.

Deputy John France and six volunteers from Tonto Rim Search and Rescue (TRSAR) arrived at the trailhead, prepared to bring the group water and assistance when they walked out on their own, uninjured.

Meanwhile, on the Fossil Springs Trail, Pine-Strawberry Fire Department paramedics headed down the 3.5-mile trail after getting reports that a boy had hit his head.


Pete Aleshire/Roundup

Tempting lure: Some hikers trying to reach the paradise of Fossil Creek on a steep, tough trail had to be rescued this weekend from the effects of the heat.
Roughly two miles down the trail, paramedics encountered a woman in her 30s suffering from severe heat stroke, said TRSAR Commander Bill Pitterle.

“She was seriously in trouble,” Pitterle said. “She was going in and out of consciousness and not sweating. You can very quickly die from that (heat stroke).”

Paramedics started an IV on the woman, while several paramedics took off down the trail for the boy.

P-S Fire requested TRSAR bring a litter and wheel to haul the woman out while the P-S Fire Department’s litter was brought to the boy.

Six to eight TRSAR volunteers helped wheel the woman out to the trailhead while another six went down to the creek to help the boy.

When Pitterle and the other rescuers arrived at the bottom, the boy “wasn’t too talkative,” he said.

From talking with the boy’s parents, rescuers learned the boy had been playing in the water when he somehow hit his head. The boy’s father went into the water to pull the boy out, but both were swept downstream. The father managed to pull himself and his son out of the creek after getting banged up quite a bit, Pitterle said. The father and son then hiked back up the creek to where the trail meets the creek. There the boy said he could not walk the rest of the way out of the canyon, so volunteers wheeled him up the steep trail.

By 11 p.m., all calls were cleared and rescuers were back home

kevinweitzel75 wrote:The AZ heat is no joke. . . . People really need to take into consideration what the heat can do to the human body.

Teenager needs rescuing off of Fossil Creek hiking trail
By Alexis Bechman

July 6, 2010

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As sure as there is weekend traffic during the summer, there are rescues at Fossil Creek.

For the third time in June, a hiker was rescued off the trail, this time for dehydration and exhaustion.

In the other missions, a 13-year-old boy hit his head while swimming in the creek with family, and a woman collapsed two miles down the steep, exposed trail from severe dehydration.

On Wednesday, June 30, a 13-year-old girl from Mesa and three other juvenile friends arrived at the trailhead, inadequately prepared to hike the trail, which drops more than 1,200 feet in 3.1 miles, said Gila County Sheriff’s Deputy Rodney Cronk.



Cronk said the group had some water, but not enough for everyone, and the girl was unfit.

A quarter of the way down the trail, the girl stopped and could go no further. One of her friends hiked to an area with cell phone service and called for help.

The Pine-Strawberry Fire Department, Tonto Rim Search and Rescue and sheriff’s office hiked down to the girl and collectively carried her out using a wheeled basket.


Once at the trailhead, the girl’s mother was called and the girl was released.

The Tonto National Forest recommends hikers carry one gallon of water per person, per day during the summer months

Cell phones, lost nerve key in pair of arduous rescues
By Alexis Bechman

September 7, 2010

The last place you want to second-guess yourself is at the top of a waterfall some 700 feet deep in a remote, rugged canyon.

One woman did just that Wednesday evening in Parker Creek Canyon and had to spend a night hungry and cold with her friends until rescuers could coax her down.

Tonto Rim Search and Rescue Commander Bill Pitterle said about 10 a.m. Thursday he got a call from the Gila County Sheriff’s Office that three people were stuck in Parker Creek Canyon after a woman in the group refused to rappel down the last of five waterfalls.

“She froze and they couldn’t talk her into going down,” Pitterle said.

Reportedly, the group had set off down the quartzite canyon, located off Highway 288 in the Sierra Ancha Wilderness at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

The group planned to canyoneer, which is rappelling down multiple waterfalls and swimming through pools, until they reached the bottom where a steep trail leads back to the trailhead.

After rappelling down three waterfalls with two male companions, the woman started down the fourth fall. She slipped and banged herself up a little, freaking herself out, Pitterle said.

“She was not too bruised up, but it probably scared her a little,” he said.

At the fifth and final fall, the woman refused to belay down. “They couldn’t talk her into going over it so they spent the night out there,” he said.

Unprepared for an overnight stay, the group had no extra water, food or clothing. Luckily, they had a lighter and were able to build a fire. The group drank water from the creek, something the woman was worried would make her sick, Pitterle said.

In the morning, the men tried to convince the woman to belay down the waterfall, but again she refused. So one climber used their single harness to belay down the fall and hike out for help at 10 a.m. Thursday.

By 1 p.m., Pitterle and a team of five other TRSAR volunteers had arrived at the canyon. The team determined the quickest way to get to the group would be to hike down a different canyon until they were over the group. They would then rappel down to the woman and her friend.

“Where we went down, we wound up below them,” Pitterle said.

Using ascenders, a TRSAR volunteer climbed 60 feet up the waterfall to the woman and man.

“We rigged her up with two lines and convinced her to come down. We then lowered her down the last rappel and then she could hike out,” he said.

Uninjured, the group hiked out to the trailhead.

Highline rescue

On Sunday, Aug. 29, TRSAR located three hikers lost near Christopher Creek.

One man and two women, all in their 20s, were hiking the Highline Trail, east of See Spring Trail, when they lost the trail and found themselves wandering through the forest with a monsoonal storm fast approaching.

Using a BlackBerry cell phone, the group called for help just as heavy rain started around 8 p.m.

The BlackBerry reportedly had a map feature on it that told the group where they were, but the group could not figure out how to access the map’s coordinates, rendering the map virtually useless to rescuers.

“We hiked in and one team went north while another went south,” Pitterle said.

Although rescuers had whistles, the lost hikers could not hear them because of blowing wind.

Eventually, the woman who owned the phone texted the group’s locale to a Gila County Sheriff’s deputy who relayed the coordinates to searchers.

Around 12:30 a.m., the group was found uninjured and escorted out.