Brave searchers have State Patrol’s gratitude

Published 4:12 pm Wednesday, May 18, 2011

This week’s events in the north Cascade Mountains have reminded me of why I like living in Washington, and the kind of people we have here.

On Sunday, Trooper Dan Anderson activated an emergency beacon, signifying that he was in trouble during a planned solo hike through very rugged terrain.

Those of us in the State Patrol family were terrified.

Normally we are the ones who respond to mayhem. We restore order, comfort victims and do our best to make things right. But in this case, with one of our own missing, we were the ones who needed comfort. Worried and scared, we were dependent on responders from a different emergency discipline: search and rescue personnel from the sheriff’s offices in Chelan and Snohomish counties.

As it turns out, we were in very good hands.

Dan Anderson is a tough trooper, as well as former Marine and Special Forces soldier. If he pushed the button on his beacon something was very wrong. As we now know, weather conditions were horrible.

These searchers, some deputies but mostly volunteers, rushed without hesitation into those same horrible conditions.

One volunteer team took a boat up Lake Chelan to start a 10-mile snowshoe trip to Dan’s last known location.

A break in the weather allowed a Snohomish County Sheriff’s helicopter to get overhead, and see tracks in the snow. They dropped a team of volunteers who followed the tracks to a steep ravine. That brought a response from mountain rescue climbers who, again, were volunteers.

In the end, Dan was located by two searchers on horseback. Did you know there were volunteers who search on horseback? I didn’t.

Something else I learned during this ordeal was the motto of search and rescue: “that others might live.”

All of us living in Washington are indebted to this small group of sheriff’s deputies and volunteer searchers who show up when the call goes out. The State Patrol family is specifically indebted to our colleagues at the sheriff’s offices of Snohomish and Chelan counties. I send my personal thanks to Sheriffs John Lovick and Brian Burnett.

Washington is a beautiful state, with great sights to offer. I’m glad Dan was out enjoying that beauty. But the best part about Washington is the kind of people who live here. People who rush into snow and darkness — so that others might live.

John R. Batiste is chief of the Washington State Patrol.