Here & Now

Lack of Search And Rescue Resources Leave State Vulnerable

Zac Schultz:

Every year in Wisconsin dozens of people get lost in the woods or need rescuing on the water. The people called out to look for them train like professionals, but get paid like volunteers. Volunteers like the ones I met on the job in Sawyer County.

On a Sunday afternoon two years ago, Ryan Nadelhoffer got on his ATV at his mom’s house in the village of Winter in Sawyer County and prepared to ride the trails to his home in Hayward 30 miles away.

Amber Smith:

He had his cell phone. He had his GPS. So he said, “I have the trails ready to go, I’m fine.”

Zac Schultz:

Ryan’s sister Amber says the GPS took him on the wrong trail.

Ryan Nadelhoffer:

I typed it on my phone and it took me to the snowmobile trail.

Amber Smith:

His GPS was taking him on the snowmobile trails and not the ATV trails. He got turned around. He lost service. So he picked a route and he drove and pretty soon it turned into no trail and he was hung up on a tree.

Zac Schultz:

Ryan was lost with a dead phone and a stuck ATV.

Ryan Nadelhoffer:

I had my headlights on for a while and then when the battery died, then it was pitch black.

Zac Schultz:

When he didn’t arrive home on time, Ryan’s family called the Sheriff’s Department and they activated the Sawyer County Search and Rescue Team.

Pat Sanchez:

We knew he was on his ATV, so we requested Winter Fire Department to come in and assist with their ATVs.

Zac Schultz:

In a few minutes, they had set up a command post and coordinated a search stretching in all directions.

Amber Smith:

It was amazing to see they have the capacity to do that in such short time. The fact that we were sitting at home with their families, they got the call and they didn’t hesitate or say, “Oh, I got to take care of this first.”

Zac Schultz:

Just after midnight, searchers found Ryan, wet and cold.

Pat Sanchez:

The way the temperature was that night, if the search members wouldn’t have located him, you know, it may have had different outcomes.

Zac Schultz:

By the time searchers were called back, it was Monday and most of them had to go to work in a few hours because in Wisconsin, search and rescue teams are made up of volunteers.

Pat Sanchez:

On any given search we get called out, we may have 35 of our members or we may have four.

Do you want to sign in over here?

Zac Schultz:

Pat Sanchez is the coordinator of Sawyer County’s team, but their search area doesn’t stop at the county line.

Pat Sanchez:

This is kind of the info sheet on the person that we’re looking for.

Zac Schultz:

This summer, they spent multiple days in Ashland County looking for the body of a man who likely drowned in the lake.

Pat Sanchez:

This lake has been searched with two cadaver dogs. Dogs have said something’s here. We don’t know if it’s coming from the lake or coming off the shore into the lake.

Zac Schultz:

Volunteers showed up to search the shoreline and woods.

Pat Sanchez:

Heat index is going to get really high. Make sure you guys stay hydrated. The reason we’re here in Ashland County is we have been doing search and rescue for many years and our reputation has grown that we are a team that will come in. We’re a force multiplier for the local agencies.

Zac Schultz:

The Sawyer County Search and Rescue Team has been called out to 85 searches over the last four years, nearly half of them outside their home territory.

Doug Mrotek:

The success rate is — been appreciated by the surrounding counties.

Zac Schultz:

Sawyer County Sheriff Doug Mrotek says a missing person case is under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement and only they can activate a search. If a neighboring county asks for help, they have to ask him to activate his volunteers.

Doug Mrotek:

We have received quite a few requests from the surrounding counties for our search and rescue team.

Zac Schultz:

But all those searches come at a cost to the volunteers. This search took place on a Thursday.

Pat Sanchez:

This is a vacation day for me and I can tell you that I use up just about all my vacation on searches.

So you take care of yourself, stay hydrated.

Zac Schultz:

Sawyer County has received donations of an old bus and money to buy a trailer and UTV, but individual team members pay for everything else on their own.

Pat Sanchez:

We’re responsible for our own canines, for their veterinarian care, for our own training whether it’s in-state or out-of-state. We have to pay for that out of pocket. When we get in our own vehicles and drive, we’re paying our own gas expenses.

Zac Schultz:

Sheriff Mrotek can’t imagine having to put the search team on his budget.

Doug Mrotek:

That would be a financial challenge on our behalf here.

Zac Schultz:

This is the way search and rescue works statewide. We called every county’s sheriff’s department in the state to ask how they conduct search and rescue operations. Of those that responded, only six counties said they have any kind of in-house search and rescue team. When we asked who they would call if they needed to conduct a search, they pointed to nearby volunteer groups. But no one actually knows the entire list of search and rescue teams.

Kevin Wernet:

Unfortunately, we don’t have a good solid list at this point of all the teams in the state because those are usually local assets.

Zac Schultz:

Kevin Wernet is an exercise and training officer with Wisconsin Emergency Management. If a search requires air support, he can get the right aircraft in the sky.

Kevin Wernet:

We support approximately 30 to 40 missions a year for search and rescue requests.

Zac Schultz:

Wernet says each part of the state presents its own geographical challenges, whether it be woods or water.

Kevin Wernet:

In the southwest, there’s a lot of river rescues. Pat has a lot of forestry-type stuff.

Zac Schultz:

But Wisconsin Emergency Management realized they don’t know where the gaps in coverage may be because volunteer groups don’t report to any single authority.

Kevin Wernet:

About a year ago, we identified a gap and we were working with different teams and different folks around the state. So we’ve been working to expand that list.

Zac Schultz:

Pat Sanchez understands there’s no money for paying search and rescue volunteers, but she would like the same legal protections offered to groups like volunteer firefighters.

Pat Sanchez:

It would be nice if we were treated as equal to fire departments, EMS and law, because we are first responders.

Zac Schultz:

In the meantime, she’ll keep showing up when the call comes in.

Pat Sanchez:

So this is my hobby, but it’s my passion, too. Because I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t get something back and what I get back is from all my teammates. We’re family. And knowing that I’ve helped somebody.

Zac Schultz:

And that is something for which Amber Smith and her brother Ryan will be eternally grateful.

Amber Smith:

It’s incredible that the value of life is so important to them. And they don’t get anything in return for it except for that they’ve helped a family.