The community has the chance on Sunday to say a collective “thank you” to members of the Montrose Search and Rescue team.

By Mary O’KEEFE

Montrose Search and Rescue is an organization that people know of and understand basically what its members do, but don’t really get the enormity of what services these volunteers perform – until they have walked down a path in the Angeles National Forest that they are certain would lead them to their car. But it doesn’t and the sun is setting. Or their vehicle has just hit a patch of ice and they have gone over the side of a cliff. It is when they are in these types of situations and they hear voices calling out and they see lights coming toward them that it finally hits them what Montrose Search and Rescue is all about.

For 70 years, MSAR has been on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On Sunday, it will be the community’s chance to show its appreciation at the 70th anniversary celebration at Newcomb’s Ranch in the Angeles National Forest. It will be a fundraiser and the money raised will go to the team’s purchase of life-saving equipment, like harnesses and ropes.

“[The money] will be used to replace our aging equipment,” said Deputy Jeff Martin.

MSAR is part of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept.; members are volunteers who are paid $1 a year. The volunteers pay for most of their own equipment.

“It is important for us to replace and replenish our equipment,” said Robert Sheedy, MSAR team leader. Sheedy joined MSAR in order to help others.

“I think if you asked the 25 members of our team they would say they joined because they wanted to do something to [help],” Sheedy said. “I had read about MSAR in the newspaper and wanted to find out more about it, I wanted to get involved.”

It is not easy to become a member. There are meetings and trainings and members go through the LASD Academy. Some discover it is too time consuming, but for those who stick it out, the rewards are worth it.

“If you are lucky enough to get through the process, it is so worthwhile,” Sheedy said. “It is such a big part of our lives.”

MSAR responds to a variety of calls, including lost hikers and vehicles over the side. One such accident occurred on March 25, 2012.

“I crawled out of the truck. I could see lights from cars,” said Tracy Granger after her truck hit a patch of ice and went over the side of a cliff plunging about 350 feet.

She was on her way home to Juniper Hills taking Angeles Crest and Angeles Forest highways, a route she had taken many times before, but on this night her truck hit black ice and everything changed.

Granger’s first thought was to crawl up to the road, but her injuries were too extensive, so she lay down alongside her vehicle and waited.

Her family reported her missing and MSAR was called out. Hours later, team member Jason Johnson was driving the path Granger was thought to have taken when he noticed tire marks in the snow indicating a vehicle had gone over the edge of the road.

“It had just snowed the day before,” Johnson said. “It was a white vehicle and there was snow. It was difficult to see the truck even from the top of the cliff.”

By the time team members Cindy England and Sheedy arrived, Johnson had gone over the side.

When he found her, Granger was responsive but confused, Johnson said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Air Rescue 5 was called to airlift her to a hospital. She returned to the scene of the accident a few months later as MSAR members helped her go down the cliff.

“I was just lucky. It was a horrible accident but [I was lucky in] the way it unfolded and the vehicle came to rest at the bottom,” she said as she witnessed the site of the crash.

She hugged Sheedy, England and Johnson.

“Thank you. I can’t say it enough, thank you,” she said. “They were telling me what it was like looking for me. It was like looking for a microbe in a haystack, not a needle.”

There are endless stories of how MSAR members used their extensive training and knowledge to rescue drivers and hikers and, at times, help solve a crime.

Dan Hensley was a MSAR member years before the modern equipment and training programs. On Christmas Day just a few years into his MSAR service the team was called out to Big Tujunga Canyon. A young boy had fallen 45 feet onto a bed of rocks. At first he appeared to be unhurt, but it was quickly discovered his condition was more serious than they had thought.

“I’ll never forget that he looked at me and asked, ‘Am I going to die?’” Hensley said. “It wasn’t like today. If we had the proper communication, like we have now, he might still be alive.”

Hensley had many call-outs in his 50-year career with MSAR. A few years ago an old friend asked if he remembered rescuing her brother and sister 45 years earlier on Mount Lukens. Hensley and his friend had never made the connection but he did remember – a young girl and boy lost in the mountains, suffering from hypothermia and frostbite. Hensley found them sitting in the snow with no shoes or socks.

The team trains in a variety of areas from rock climbing to ice climbing. They train in the Angeles National Forest and Lee Vining near Mammoth for ice rescues.

“They are on call [24/7]. They give up time from their families on holidays, and give up time from work for training days,” Martin said.

MSAR team members are not the only ones who are affected by their 24/7 dedication.

“At the end of the day, our spouses, significant others and children are there [for us]. Without their support we couldn’t do this,” Sheedy said.

Sheedy’s wife and family had to understand this Fourth of July when he was called out.

“I had 50 people over [to the house], but I had to leave,” he said. “Our mission is to find the person, the hiker or the vehicle off the road or over the side. Our mission is to find and render aid.”

He added that MSAR is fortunate to have resources like LASD Air 5 and LA County Fire Dept.

Newcomb’s Ranch is the perfect place to hold the 70th anniversary because the MSAR team spends a lot of time there. Most of their call-outs have them responding to ANF, where Newcomb’s is located.

According to Martin, on weekends this year, the MSAR has responded to 12 lost hikers, 10 injured hikers, 13 stranded motorists, 28 vehicle crashes and 54 motorcycle crashes. The motorcycle accident totals reflect the known totals; many times, motorcycle riders do not report their accidents. These totals are from the weekend patrol only; they do not include an additional  108 call-outs MSAR has responded to thus far this year.

The fundraising event is on Sunday, Sept. 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Newcomb’s Ranch on the Angeles Crest Highway mile marker 50.93. Tickets are $35, which includes a T-shirt, lunch and a Highway 2 sticker. Tickets can be purchased at the restaurant or at the CV Sheriff’s Station, 4554 Briggs Ave. For those who can’t attend the fundraiser lunch, but still want to donate, T-shirts can be purchased at the CV Sheriff’s Station for $20, or donations can be made to MSAR at the CV Sheriff’s Station.

  Mary Okeefe