Lt. Alan Siddoway is the liaison to Search and Rescue at the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. He estimates they’ve fielded as many as 18 calls in the past four weeks, which is more than the norm in winter months.
“We're seeing a lot of nausea, vomiting in the backcountry; we've had anxiety attacks; we've had sprains,” he said.
The vast majority of summer calls come from the Uinta Mountains. According to Siddoway, non-life threatening injuries and overdue hikers are the most common calls SAR receives.
More and more, he said, the calls come from GPS devices, such as Garmin or SPOT trackers. These allow people in the backcountry to notify loved ones or authorities when they’re lost or need help.
Calls range widely in severity. Saturday, an insurance agent called SAR about a customer’s car stuck in the Uinta Mountains, somewhere near Whitney Reservoir.
The following day, SAR received reports of a man on the Wyoming side of the Uintas threatening to harm himself. Forest rangers ultimately were able to rescue him.
SAR tailors its response to each situation. Except for those who work at the sheriff’s office, like Siddoway and the sheriff’s mounted posse, Summit County SAR is an all-volunteer force.
“We exercise a lot of discretion because we understand that every time we activate we run the risk of one of our team members being injured,” Siddoway said. “And so we weigh that against the severity of the call, the exigency of the call.”
In the case of the car stuck in the Uintas, it wasn’t an urgent nor a life-threatening situation, and SAR couldn’t contact the stranded person. So SAR’s response was to contact a member of the person’s family.
Siddoway said more involved responses, such as airlifts, need to be coordinated with the U.S. Forest Service and only happen in extreme situations.
“Someone, for instance, that's just ill on the Highline Trail may not qualify to be evacuated by air,” Siddoway said.
That shouldn’t discourage anyone from calling. If someone needs help in the backcountry, Siddoway wants to hear about it.
“We ask, please give us a call. Don't hesitate to call,” he said. “And we will talk through your situation and come up with the best response.”
Siddoway says the best way to prevent preventing injuries and illness at high elevation is "hydrate, hydrate, hydrate."
In an emergency, always call 911. Dispatchers notify Search and Rescue or the appropriate first responders from there.
