From the crater of Mount St. Helens to the slopes of Mount Adams, Southwest Washington features hundreds of miles of back country to explore. Sometimes, those explorations go awry. And that’s where the services of the Volcano Rescue Team come into play.
The rescue team, which was formed in 1986, is an all-volunteer unit that’s trained in avalanche, cave, crevasse, high angle and mountain rescue.
North Country Emergency Medical Services is conducting its annual Volcano Rescue Team volunteer drive. Interested residents must have their completed application packets turned in to North Country EMS no later than 5 p.m. April 10.
Ideal candidates are physically fit, have a strong outdoor background and live close to the Yacolt fire station so they can respond to calls rapidly.
Annual rope rescue classes begin in May and will cover extensive technical climbing.
“The main thing we need in a VRT applicant is commitment,” said Tom McDowell, assistant chief at North Country EMS and Fire District 13. “Calls come any time, any day, and often require a large number of searchers/rescuers and may last for hours and days. There is a lot of training normally on weekends but also some classroom stuff one night a month.”
There’s also an opportunity for medical training, but it’s not a required aspect of the volunteer position. Many long-standing members of the VRT are trained as emergency medical technicians or paramedics.
Each year, dozens of volunteers are called upon to conduct search and/or rescue missions on and around Mount St. Helens primarily, but the team will respond to calls along the Wind River and as far east as Mount Adams.
According to McDowell, the 2014 season saw 23 missions, including an elk hunter who shot himself in the leg with an arrow. It proved a textbook example of how a call can take multiple days to complete because of the rugged back country serviced by the VRT. Due to the rough terrain, it took rescuers nearly 24 hours to get there and another eight hours for the team to hike back to a road after the patient was stabilized and flown to a hospital.
Other calls included a basket stretcher rescue of a hiker who fell in the Ape Cave, the rescue of a man who’d been hiking the Pacific Crest Trail on the slopes of Mount Adams when he slid 80 feet into a tree, and a dozen successful searches for lost hikers on Mount St. Helens.
Personal equipment such as clothing, backpacks, water bottles and gloves is the responsibility of each volunteer, while group equipment such as climbing ropes, avalanche transceivers, snowshoes, vehicle transportation and radios are supplied through grants and fundraising efforts.
Applications can be completed at www.volcanorescueteam.org, picked up at North Country EMS/Yacolt Fire Station or mailed to interested parties by calling 360-686-3271.
