Sedona AZ (October 14, 2015) – During Sunday through Tuesday of this week, CCSO deputies and the dedicated men
and women of the Coconino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue (SAR) unit responded to five calls for help, at times under very hazardous conditions.
On Sunday, October 11, at about 6:00 p.m., CCSO received a 911 call reporting that a Flagstaff (AZ) father and daughter were stranded in the West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon. A Sheriff’s Office SAR coordinator requested assistance from the Arizona
Department of Public Safety (DPS) Air Rescue Division. The DPS helicopter based in Phoenix responded and conducted an air search over the area where the two stranded hikers were assumed to be. Crew members were able to determine that both subjects were uninjured, and were well prepared with provisions and camping equipment to spend the night at their current location.
At daybreak Monday morning, the SAR Technical Rescue Team and the Flagstaff-based DPS helicopter responded to West Fork Canyon. Two rescuers hiked down to the hikers’ location and prepared them for air transport via a short haul method. During the first trip, the teenage girl and a rescuer were suspended beneath the helicopter on a cable and flown to an area where they were lowered to the ground. During the second trip, the father, the family dog, and a rescuer were transported out of the canyon utilizing the same method. Neither of the hikers required any medical attention.
On Monday, October 12, at about 4:00 in the afternoon, an Arizona Game and Fish officer called the Sheriff’s Office to advise of an overdue hunter in the Blue Ridge area, west of Lake Mary Road. A man and his granddaughter were hunting and one shot an elk. The two became separated around 1:30 p.m. so the granddaughter used a cell phone to alert the Arizona Game and Fish. The CCSO deputy stationed in Blue Ridge and the Search and Rescue personnel responded and met with the Game and Fish officer. During the ground search, a Game and Fish officer located the missing hunter. The hunter did not require medical attention and returned to his vehicle.
On Monday afternoon, the CCSO sergeant who serves as the SAR coordinator was in the process of assisting with logistics in the search for a missing Lake Powell cliff jumper when he was made aware of a missing woman and her 14 year old son. It was believed that the two left the Arizona Snowbowl parking lot at about 1:30 in the afternoon to take a short hike along the San Francisco Peaks Kachina Trail, but had not returned by sundown. On duty CCSO deputies hiked the trail and eventually located the two. Disoriented, the hikers had wandered about a half mile off the pathway and were escorted back to the Snowbowl parking lot.
During that same afternoon, the CCSO Search and Rescue Coordinator was contacted by Havasupai tribal officials and informed that a Supai Canyon hiker had injured a leg. Members of the Supai Rural CERT team were able to transport the woman to Supai Village where Tribal Officials requested assistance. An air rescue helicopter transported her out of the canyon to a medical center.
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