CONTINUATION OF LETTER
The “hasty team” members from Cooke City S+R are the best of the best, these people always provide their volunteer services at a moments notice and on January 17, when the back side of Crown Butte slid it was not an exception. The “hasty team” are the people who are putting themselves at risk at the initial report when they leave and honestly don’t know what they are headed into but that doesn’t stop them, they are called, they leave, they assess and they make judgment calls. What is amazing to me is that these people responded, they assessed and they asked for more people to probe and this is where your problem arose…………you denied these people what they needed; but you went one step further, someone called around and asked people to respond to the fire hall, and even though your hasty team was diligently attempting to search a huge avalanche, you gathered people from all over this country, people from Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, California, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan and who knows where else~~~~~~~~~you gathered these people and then said “you can’t go”. Someone actually had the audacity to tell these volunteers that they would have to wait an hour and a half for someone to arrive in Cooke City to assess whether or not these volunteers could go on the hill, someone actually said this out loud.
You had a USFS person, who agreed with the assessment of the “hasty team” members, come from the site to the fire hall requesting probes and people to use them; you sent probes but nobody to use those probes ~ so you have a few people with a probe in each hand instead of a lot of people with one probe searching more area.
Now, you had the “hasty team” on the hill, their assessment was done, they needed help, they needed bodies to run probe poles, but someone coming in from Livingston or Gardiner to sit in the fire hall was going to assess whether or not the team needed help on the hill???? Is this your learning curve? Is this what I went through with my son when he was maybe eight years old?
On the evening of January 17, had you allowed the volunteers to search the hill as requested by the “hasty team”; had you allowed the probe line to go from an estimated 15 people to an estimated 60 people; had someone at the fire hall taken command of the situation by trusting the people on the “hasty team” who requested more people to probe; had someone used some basic old common sense, I bet you’d have had your victim out that night, but we‘ll never know will we? Don’t probe lines start at the toe? How long was the probe line going on the 18th ~ and I don’t mean the logistical time of meeting at the fire hall, talking, planning and dispatching, I mean actually probing, when the victim was located? You do the math.
The victim’s wife would not have been spared the death of her husband, but she would not have had to spend that extra night wondering, just wondering………………….
This is about the victims, not just the ones in the physical crisis, but about all the victims.
Don’t think that I don’t understand liability issues, don’t think that I don’t understand that no one wants responsibility for anything. We make our living renting snowmobiles, we know liability issues, we know about people signing waivers to release us from liability, we know logistical issues ~ but ~ we also know common sense.
Park County Search and Rescue expects Cooke City’s best to respond, putting themselves in danger at times, in order to assess for S+R and then they are slapped down because someone has to “make a decision” who is going to drive in from somewhere else who perhaps has never been to an avalanche, perhaps has never touched a probe pole, perhaps has never even seen an avalanche and it‘s devastation first hand; let’s face it, the decisions are made on that hill, whomever is sitting at that fire hall should be answering to the people on the hill ~ those people sitting at the fire hall that don’t have a clue as to what is at the site should not be making the judgment call as to what is allowed to happen on the hill.
Your system is broken.
I cannot even begin to tell you how many of your rejected volunteers came to talk with me at the station to ask me for excuses for Park County Search & Rescue, people wanting to volunteer to help probe to “just get the guy out”; I cannot explain to you the frustration of the people, they wanted to volunteer, they wanted to help take care of their own ~ snowmobilers do that, they take care of their own. They were asking me if they could go without the blessing of the “officials at that fire hall”. They wanted to know why they had been called to volunteer and then sent away, they wanted to know why no one down at the fire hall would answer their questions, their entirely legitimate questions. I will not make excuses for your bureaucracy.
The people who were fortunate enough to be vacationing here in Cooke City last weekend when this crisis occurred are, quite frankly, pissed off at the ineptitude (their words, not mine) of the officials of Park County Search and Rescue.
Your request for additional manpower went out, your request was answered, you didn’t utilize the people that were available, willing and able that were so badly needed on the hill.
If this had been the first time I had witnessed and been a part of such a situation I would not be contacting you; however, this is what always happens. As I stated at the beginning, this letter is a result of years of frustration with an organization that I think should have had its act together many years ago.
Just so there is no misunderstanding as to the intent of my letter I can state that clearly here; in the event of an avalanche the members of the hasty team are the only people that actually know the situation which needs to be dealt with, those people are assessing with their own eyes what the circumstances are and they need to be trusted with their assessment as it is reported to whomever is sitting at the fire hall. Egos need to be laid to rest, direction of the search needs to be taken from the people actually at the scene. The pomposity of some Park County Search and Rescue personnel at the fire hall with statements such as “we are in charge” and “if we need you we will tell you” must stop; this is not an ego trip and quite frankly if the job is getting done on the hill the attitudes of the support staff are quite irrelevant. Avalanche situations are high stress for everyone involved and Park County Search and Rescue staff exuding attitudes of self importance are out of line. We are all dealing with victims families and volunteers here.
I am thankful for the people of Cooke City who care enough to form a “hasty team”, I am thankful for the snowmobilers who come into this town who are willing to volunteer for a task as grim as a probe line, I am thankful that there is some common sense among those of us who live here who understand the severity and urgency of an avalanche dispatch; I am thankful that we understand what a victim is.
I know that the next time someone comes into Cooke City Exxon to report an avalanche I will dispatch a “hasty team” to do an assessment and record the same; I will then call 911 to report location; maybe it will be your wife, husband, son, daughter or friend…………..and then I will wait…….
What will Park County Search and Rescue do?
Concerned Citizen of Cooke City, Montana,
Susan Jack
Cooke City Exxon
The “hasty team” members from Cooke City S+R are the best of the best, these people always provide their volunteer services at a moments notice and on January 17, when the back side of Crown Butte slid it was not an exception. The “hasty team” are the people who are putting themselves at risk at the initial report when they leave and honestly don’t know what they are headed into but that doesn’t stop them, they are called, they leave, they assess and they make judgment calls. What is amazing to me is that these people responded, they assessed and they asked for more people to probe and this is where your problem arose…………you denied these people what they needed; but you went one step further, someone called around and asked people to respond to the fire hall, and even though your hasty team was diligently attempting to search a huge avalanche, you gathered people from all over this country, people from Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, California, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan and who knows where else~~~~~~~~~you gathered these people and then said “you can’t go”. Someone actually had the audacity to tell these volunteers that they would have to wait an hour and a half for someone to arrive in Cooke City to assess whether or not these volunteers could go on the hill, someone actually said this out loud.
You had a USFS person, who agreed with the assessment of the “hasty team” members, come from the site to the fire hall requesting probes and people to use them; you sent probes but nobody to use those probes ~ so you have a few people with a probe in each hand instead of a lot of people with one probe searching more area.
Now, you had the “hasty team” on the hill, their assessment was done, they needed help, they needed bodies to run probe poles, but someone coming in from Livingston or Gardiner to sit in the fire hall was going to assess whether or not the team needed help on the hill???? Is this your learning curve? Is this what I went through with my son when he was maybe eight years old?
On the evening of January 17, had you allowed the volunteers to search the hill as requested by the “hasty team”; had you allowed the probe line to go from an estimated 15 people to an estimated 60 people; had someone at the fire hall taken command of the situation by trusting the people on the “hasty team” who requested more people to probe; had someone used some basic old common sense, I bet you’d have had your victim out that night, but we‘ll never know will we? Don’t probe lines start at the toe? How long was the probe line going on the 18th ~ and I don’t mean the logistical time of meeting at the fire hall, talking, planning and dispatching, I mean actually probing, when the victim was located? You do the math.
The victim’s wife would not have been spared the death of her husband, but she would not have had to spend that extra night wondering, just wondering………………….
This is about the victims, not just the ones in the physical crisis, but about all the victims.
Don’t think that I don’t understand liability issues, don’t think that I don’t understand that no one wants responsibility for anything. We make our living renting snowmobiles, we know liability issues, we know about people signing waivers to release us from liability, we know logistical issues ~ but ~ we also know common sense.
Park County Search and Rescue expects Cooke City’s best to respond, putting themselves in danger at times, in order to assess for S+R and then they are slapped down because someone has to “make a decision” who is going to drive in from somewhere else who perhaps has never been to an avalanche, perhaps has never touched a probe pole, perhaps has never even seen an avalanche and it‘s devastation first hand; let’s face it, the decisions are made on that hill, whomever is sitting at that fire hall should be answering to the people on the hill ~ those people sitting at the fire hall that don’t have a clue as to what is at the site should not be making the judgment call as to what is allowed to happen on the hill.
Your system is broken.
I cannot even begin to tell you how many of your rejected volunteers came to talk with me at the station to ask me for excuses for Park County Search & Rescue, people wanting to volunteer to help probe to “just get the guy out”; I cannot explain to you the frustration of the people, they wanted to volunteer, they wanted to help take care of their own ~ snowmobilers do that, they take care of their own. They were asking me if they could go without the blessing of the “officials at that fire hall”. They wanted to know why they had been called to volunteer and then sent away, they wanted to know why no one down at the fire hall would answer their questions, their entirely legitimate questions. I will not make excuses for your bureaucracy.
The people who were fortunate enough to be vacationing here in Cooke City last weekend when this crisis occurred are, quite frankly, pissed off at the ineptitude (their words, not mine) of the officials of Park County Search and Rescue.
Your request for additional manpower went out, your request was answered, you didn’t utilize the people that were available, willing and able that were so badly needed on the hill.
If this had been the first time I had witnessed and been a part of such a situation I would not be contacting you; however, this is what always happens. As I stated at the beginning, this letter is a result of years of frustration with an organization that I think should have had its act together many years ago.
Just so there is no misunderstanding as to the intent of my letter I can state that clearly here; in the event of an avalanche the members of the hasty team are the only people that actually know the situation which needs to be dealt with, those people are assessing with their own eyes what the circumstances are and they need to be trusted with their assessment as it is reported to whomever is sitting at the fire hall. Egos need to be laid to rest, direction of the search needs to be taken from the people actually at the scene. The pomposity of some Park County Search and Rescue personnel at the fire hall with statements such as “we are in charge” and “if we need you we will tell you” must stop; this is not an ego trip and quite frankly if the job is getting done on the hill the attitudes of the support staff are quite irrelevant. Avalanche situations are high stress for everyone involved and Park County Search and Rescue staff exuding attitudes of self importance are out of line. We are all dealing with victims families and volunteers here.
I am thankful for the people of Cooke City who care enough to form a “hasty team”, I am thankful for the snowmobilers who come into this town who are willing to volunteer for a task as grim as a probe line, I am thankful that there is some common sense among those of us who live here who understand the severity and urgency of an avalanche dispatch; I am thankful that we understand what a victim is.
I know that the next time someone comes into Cooke City Exxon to report an avalanche I will dispatch a “hasty team” to do an assessment and record the same; I will then call 911 to report location; maybe it will be your wife, husband, son, daughter or friend…………..and then I will wait…….
What will Park County Search and Rescue do?
Concerned Citizen of Cooke City, Montana,
Susan Jack
Cooke City Exxon
