Oregonian newspaper reports search for Kims was botched by authorities

[blitzen]

who knows if this is just 20/20 hindsight--but at first glance it's pretty damning


http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/11663313078330.xml&coll=7

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Most SAR people are drilled in the centrality of

unified command, the ever so lovely Incident Command System

From the article you provided, it was not established from word go.

I hate it when that happens and have seen it happen... and it is never pretty... and yes, people die

I do hope they learn from the experience and DRILL everybody in ICS... and avoid a second incident

[blitzen]

3. the most tragic part of this story is that the lodge owner...

told the head of Josephine County Emergency Services, very early on, that he had a pretty good idea where they were--and she basically ignored him

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Well what would the civilian know?

:sarcasm:

Another thing drilled into SAR personnel, or at least I did drill it into my kids.

Any and all leads will be pursued...

I read the article and I thought to myself, been out of the bidness for a while but lordly, it reminded me of some lessons learned, and in this case forgotten.

[blitzen]

5. here's the worst part

That same morning, John James, 45, the owner of Black Bar Lodge on the Rogue River, heard about the Kims on television and "had a hunch" they were up on that very spur road. James said he has redirected countless motorists over the years who had strayed off Bear Camp onto the logging road.

He left a message with Rubrecht but says she didn't call back, an account Rubrecht later confirmed. So James and his brother went up the spur road on their snowmobiles. It hadn't snowed for a few days, and he said they hit bare ground after traveling about one mile. Before that, however, they could see fresh tire tracks that had been snowed over recently.

Later that day, he ran into Rubrecht and Stanton on Bear Camp Road. He says he told them about the tracks and that someone needed to check the logging roads thoroughly.

He says Rubrecht brushed him off. "She was rude in attitude, very curt," James said. "They definitely weren't real receptive to us being up there, it was like, 'Joe Public doesn't belong here.' "

Rubrecht doesn't deny being impatient with James on the road that day. "I was trying not to throw up," she said. Rubrecht does not recall James telling her she needed to check his road. On the contrary, she said she "lowered it on her priority list" because she recalls him saying he had checked it.

She says she did not, however, cross the road off the list of possibilities. "I would have never cleared the road just by some citizen telling me they ran the road," she said. "But it may have gotten mentally lowered on the priority list because we only had a limited number of resources in the first couple of days."

She says she only remembers James tell her generally to "check those spur roads," to which her response was, "Duh? What else am I going to do?"

Rubrecht didn't call out search teams to inspect the logging roads.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Yep that is a classic

seen it, lived through it, and I hate to see it ONCE AGAIN

As I said, what would Joe Q Public about anything?

Makes my stomach knott in anger when I see things like that

[Raine]

2. This was such a tragedy

and such a shame to read of the missed opportunities.

[keopeli]

7. Many, many mistakes were made, by many different people.

The article demonstrates many bad decisions and actions by the Oregon officials. An honest review is always helpful.

But, we must not lose sight of certain circumstances that greatly exasperated the situation - circumstances that leave no human to blame.

First, the unusual snow storm (which i lived through as well). Out of season, unusually severe. Very unexpected.

Second, the timing was prophetically bad. The Kims were not missed until Wednesday, because they were not expected home until Monday, because they were adding a nice weekend getaway to their journey. This twist of fate delayed any rescue effort starting by at least 6 DAYS! It is by far the most damaging of coincidences that occurred.

Third, the remoteness of the accident. Very few places remain in the continental US that are as remote as the mountains of southern Oregon and northern Washington. They are almost impassible in the summer months, much less the Winter - and by impassible, I mean you'll likely die if you try. Yet they are becoming more populated as time goes on, which makes this tragedy a lesson we had better learn well.

I also think it's odd that the Oregon National Guard just sat and waited for orders for TWO DAYS without ASKING if anyone needed assistance. The idea of "central command" espoused by the previous poster would only work if the subordinate groups report to the leaders.

I feel horribly for this poor family. Yet, given the many bizarre circumstances that caused this unfortunate calamity, I find it hard to point the finger at any individual, however ill-informed their actions may have been.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. The idea of Incident Command System

is standard and was developed because of tragedies of this type...

And yes you are right, it only works when everybody plays nice.

But I can smell the inter agency fights that were exposed by this... there are them rifts that they will need to fix

The theory is that the first agency on scene takes charge, UNLESS a more experienced agency shows up... in which case the first agency has the option of keeping control of the situation (politically what at times is done) with the second more experienced personnel taking critical roles, which at times transfer effective command to them

In this case it sounds like the initial ICS protocols were never activated and that they have some serious problems

Of course this is from the outside looking in, but if I were asked, I'd ask for a full procedure review and more inter agency training, helps to standardize procedures or at the very least increase trust

[NV1962]

9. You raise good points - and mistakes can happen of course, but INCOMPETENCE is something else.

Here's what angers me:

The search-and-rescue coordinator now acknowledges she was overwhelmed by the demands of the search. She failed to call for help from the National Guard, which meant that heat-detecting helicopters stayed on the ground in the crucial two nights James Kim slept in the forest.

Her direct supervisor, an undersheriff in his last week on the job, said he ignored a late-night call from her about the case because he was watching an Oregon State football game on television.

[depakid]

10. delete

[blitzen]

11. kick for daytime crowd n/t

[cwydro]

12. wow. that is pretty sad.

[Bluebear]

13. Stop! There goes Toby Keith's song & the made for TV movie! nt