Man Lost in Desert
August 8th, 2004
Salton Sea
2004-018
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by Travis Henderson
This
search was on a miserably hot and humid day at the Salton Sea. We got
the all to assist teams from the desert that were already on scene.
We
arrived around noon and immediately started gulping down ice water,
since it was so disgustingly hot. During the briefing we learned that
four men had taken a 1980's Trans Am onto the rugged dirt roads near
the Salton Sea. They had gone fishing in the canal and had gotten their
ill-equipped car stuck in the sand on the drive home. They had tried
for a few hours to free the car but eventually conceded that it was
stuck and that they would have to walk back. The highway was several
miles away and the temperature was well over 110 degrees with an
appallingly high humidity level. And to make matters worse they had
little to no water. After a few hours of walking one of the men said
they were going the wrong way. The other three disagreed. There was an
argument and the one man went his own way.
The
three men finally made it to the highway after 2000. They were picked
up by a passing car and were so dehydrated they needed immediate
hospitalization. The next morning they had not heard from the one man
who had gone off alone. So they called the Sheriff's office and the
search was underway.
Just
as we started to deploy into the field the subject was found ...at
home. What we found out was that the lone walker actually did go the
right way. He made it to the highway hours before his friends did and
just went home, not knowing that his friends were still very much in
danger out in the desert. He was at home while his buddies were in the
hospital. He called them the next morning to hang out and was told that
there was a search going on for him and that he should probably call
the Sheriff's department. He did and we all went home shortly after,
very much relieved that we didn't have to hike around out there in that
heat. A total of 10 members were present.
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