By Mary O’KEEFE

For 70 years, the Montrose Search and Rescue team has traveled the Angeles National Forest ready to search for any lost hikers, respond to cars over the side of the road, recover those who met a tragic end and even rescue a dog … or two. It is easy to take their efforts for granted, knowing that they will do what it takes to rescue, recover or whatever the job requires.

But members are also emergency responders who help with earthquakes, floods and fires. In fact, members of the MSAR volunteered during the Station Fire.

MSAR members had been working the fire since it began. They supported firefighters and law enforcement in evacuations and traffic. On Aug. 30, a call came out of a car over the side, but when they responded, it became a tragedy that they would never forget.

“It was incredible. I never thought I would be doing this on the rescue team,” said Janet Henderson, MSAR member, in an earlier interview with CVW.

The team knew Angeles National Forest well, so responding to a call for help was routine; but not when the forest was on fire.

“It was like a war zone. Everything was on fire. There was no way of getting away from it,” recalled CV Sheriff’s Station Deputy Jeff Martin, assistant coordinator, MSAR. “A couple of times we had to have the [team member] in the passenger seat open the [car] door to make certain we could see the edge of the road.”

The over-the-side vehicle call pertained to Los Angeles Fire Capt. Tedmund “Ted” Hall, 47, and Firefighter Specialist Arnaldo “Arnie” Quinones, 34. They had driven off the side of a mountainous road near inmate Camp 16 near Mt. Gleason. They were searching for a safe route out of the area for the correction workers, fire personnel and inmates who were trapped by the fire at the camp.

“There were rock slides and downed power lines. It was a narrow dirt road but with the smoke and fire it was worse,” said Mike Leum, MSAR member.

Some of the members got out of the truck and cleared rocks from the road as they slowly traveled along.

“By the time we got there, firefighters had transported half of the inmates out. Some were still there and they had gone over the side of the mountain to stay with the two [fallen] firefighters, not wanting to leave them alone. [Those who walked down the mountain] had first degree burns on their feet,” Henderson said. The ground was so hot from the fire it permeated the boots, burning the soles of the firefighters’ feet.

“We just assisted,” Leum added. “We were there to support the firefighters.”

“We had a good group of people up there to help,” Martin said.

“This was something. I had never seen anything like this before,” Martin said.

Henderson said the entire distance was only four to six miles down the road.

“But that road was on fire,” Henderson said. She added that when a call like that comes in, rescuers can’t help but think about the danger.

“You want to go and help, but you think, ‘If we are stuck here, we are stuck.’ But we all knew what we were doing it for and we went,” she said.

For 70 years, MSAR has responded to calls where they may not know exactly what they might find but, as Henderson pointed out, they take the call and they respond.

  Mary Okeefe