By Mary O’KEEFE

From July 31 to Aug. 31 last year, the Montrose Search and Rescue team searched for three teens from Fontana who were reported missing after they told family and friends they drove to “the mountains.” The team searched for two days before finding a vehicle over the side and, unfortunately, the three teens were deceased. On Aug. 3 a brushfire broke out near Buckhorn Campground. MSAR teams responded to assist in evacuating hikers and campers. On Aug. 5 the team assisted in the recovery of the Fontana teens’ vehicle. On Aug. 7 someone driving along the Angeles Crest Highway reported seeing a large cloud of dust as though a car had gone over the side. MSAR team members went out on the call to find the car but nothing else. On Aug. 9 they searched for four hikers who were overdue near Switzer Falls. On Aug. 11 they were called to a car over the side and found two victims. They were not injured. On Aug. 22 another report was made of a possible car over the side. The team searched but found nothing. From Aug. 23 to Aug. 25, team members assisted in the recovery of a vehicle and the body of Kimberly Blum who had been missing for two years. On Aug. 27 they searched for a missing hiker near Chilao Campground, the next day the team did a hoist rescue of a dehydrated mountain biker and his bike. On Aug. 31, MSAR assisted Santa Clarita Search and Rescue and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Air 5 in searching an area near Little Tujunga Canyon Road for an 86-year-old man. His vehicle had been found abandoned. The man was found wandering in the forest.

All that was within a one-month period last year. This year, as of the end of May, the team has responded to 55 calls, compared to 39 calls at the same time last year. Thirteen of those calls were in May alone. And this month, June, they have had 12 requests to date.

MSAR team members rely on training and equipment to assist with the many calls they respond to. Though they maintain and improve their skills, for many years the team has been responding to the various calls with a 1987 rescue truck. Just to put it in perspective, 1987 was when Demi Moore married Bruce Willis, Black Monday occurred on Wall Street, “Platoon” won best picture of the year and a brand new Toyota Camry was a little over $11,000.

Over the years, the MSAR truck continued to go out on rescues and was the best “work horse” for a busy group of emergency responders. But as the years passed the truck was not as powerful as it once was.

“For the last two years it has been in the shop more than available to us,” said team member Mike Leum.

For 30 years the truck has been out on thousands of rescues but members realized they needed something new. Leum began hunting for grants and found funding enough to cover the cost of a band new Ford F550 custom-designed truck.  The truck was purchased entirely from the grants with no monies coming from the public.

Leum said before designing the truck, team members, some who have been on the team for 50 years, were asked what they would like to see in a new truck. MSAR has been around since 1947 and many of the members who have been with the team over the years are still around.

“We asked them what worked and what hasn’t worked,” Leum said.

Taking into consideration their suggestions, the new truck was customized to the team’s specifications with several added safety features.

The new truck is finally ready – well, finally ready to be tested. The team has taken it out a few times and will take it out more before officially making it a member of MSAR.

“It has a couple of things that need to be done,” Leum said.

The team will continue to test its features, including the important winch.

“The [team members] are happy and excited about the truck. It has been a process that took about three years because of it being customized,” he added.

And there were issues along the way, but it is now ready for the MSAR test.

“Probably in another month we will be responding to calls with it,” Leum said.

The public will be able to see it soon at events MSAR attends like National Night Out in August and Leum said it will definitely be part of the Montrose Christmas Parade – that is unless the truck and the team get called out to a rescue.

  Mary Okeefe