Frostbite Presentation 12-8-2010

Frostbite

A presentation by Paul Marcolini

Hosted by Franklin Search and Rescue

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

6:30 p.m.

Kingfield Fire Department (Franklin County)

The Frostbite presentation covers injury patterns, causation, and treatment. It includes case studies from Denali and Maine and includes some graphic images from the ER.

Paul Marcolini has recently completed his 5th season as a climbing ranger with the National Park Service on Denali and has worked for Wilderness Medical Associates (WMA) since 1981. Paul was one of the original WMA instructors and served as Executive Director for 5 years in the early 90’s. As a paramedic, he has worked for ground, rotor and fixed wing EMS programs. Paul has over 17 years of experience with Outward Bound and is a former chair of Maine EMS Education Committee. Paul is currently a member of Mahoosuc Mountain Search and Rescue, Franklin Search and Rescue team and is preparing for a second season of climbing in Bolivia, and the winter guiding season in Maine and New Hampshire.

All interested people are welcome to attend.

How to Download a 7.5 Minute Series USGS Topo Map

How to Download 7.5 Minute Series USGS Topo Maps

December, 2010

Mick Womersley
MASAR Resource Officer
Unity College SAR

What follows are instructions for downloading free .tif files of the 1:24,000, 7.5 minute series (meaning 7.5 minutes of longitude and latitude per map) USGS topographic maps for use in Maine Search and Rescue, from the Maine Geographic Information Systems Library run by state government (know as MEGIS).

A .tif file is a common-format, computer photo file. If you browse the Internet and look at family photos on your computer you already have software to access and read these files.

These maps are US government property and so legally in the public domain and free for all to use. However, the printed versions now cost six or eight dollars apiece, so the online maps are a great help.

Please circulate as freely as you wish.

To download the files:

1. Find the map you want by title. These are the same titles printed on the map. Usually the nearest Town is the title, often with a directional qualifier, so for instance my house is on the "Brooks East" quadrangle, despite being in Jackson (because Brooks is the largest settlement on the map and so the map is named for Brooks). You can get the titles for all Maine USGS 7.5 minute topo quads using the USGS Map Store map locator using this link.

http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/%28ctype=areaDetails&xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&carea=%24ROOT&layout=6_1_61_48&uiarea=2%29/.do

2. Using a web browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer, go to the MEGIS Catalog portal (click on this embedded link):

http://megis.maine.gov/catalog/catalog.asp

3. Go to the tab menu for "Tile" files. "Tiles" are picture files designed for use in GIS programs, but if a file is a picture file, you don't need a GIS program to open it.

4. Search for the title you want under 'drgclips". The "drgclips" section, which is the first section under MEGIS Tiles, is the ine that has all the 1:24,000 maps. Follow the MEGIS menus to download the map files to your computer. Save these files to a labeled file folder.

5. Open the map files in an image/photo viewer such as Preview or Adobe reader.  In most cases your computer will do this automatically if you click on the image icon or thumbnail in your file folder.

6. You can zoom in, zoom out and print the map at any size of enlargement you want, or just read it on your computer. You can also "tile" multiple maps together to make composite maps in documents using either a GIS program (there is now a free GIS program called Q-GIS - a little complicated, but you can puzzle it out) , or more simply using Microsoft Power Point.

(If you tile together a Microsoft Power Point image of your unit's area and email it to me, I can print a 42-inch poster-size image on our college's plotter for you and mail it back to you - a handy resource to have in the SAR Cache.)


To use the files in SAR operations and training:

1. The 7.5 map data is the same as the data in the DeLorme Atlas and in the GIS programs used by the Warden's Service. The GIS programs add satellite imagery, which is what is normally handed to search team leaders at the start of the search. But these 7.5 minute topos have additional useful information. They are, however, often several years out of date as to buildings and roads. In almost all cases, however, the topography (ie contours, waterways, and landforms in general), is accurate, and this is most useful. Also the UTM grid is present on most of these maps which makes finding and using GPS coordinates very easy. Finally, the UTM grid can be used as a map grid to take compass bearings from the map to use on the ground much more easily than can be done with the satellite hand-outs. This is most useful when a Silva-type compass is used because these compasses are designed to be see-through so you can identify direction of travel and the map grid looking through the compass plastic, and line them up properly.

2. First step: print your map at the proper scale. This may take trial and error, enlarging and reducing images in your printer viewer until you get it right. You can print about a quarter of a map at a time at the 1:24,000 scale using regular US letter copy paper. The UTM one-kilometer grid on the map should be about 1 and 5/8 of an inch across when you get the scale right.

Remember, this is a one-kilometer grid, so even if you don't get the scale right, you still have a scale if you understand the grid squares to be one kilometer across (on the ground) and estimate from there.

3. To use these maps on a search and rescue operation, I suggest you them use it side-by-side with the satellite imagery given out by the Wardens Service. Take the maps into the field and make comparisons as you navigate to, from, and around your search areas. The contour and waterway information is the most useful as this will help you find routes over rough terrain.

4. Take care using GPS. In many cases these 1:24,000 series maps are fitted to an out-of-date GPS datum, NAD 27, and have the UTM grid also fitted to this datum printed on the map as an overlay. MEGIS deleted this information when they made the "tiles." There are ways to infer it using a GPS or other maps, but all too complicated to describe here. The Warden's Service Satellite imagery uses WGS 84 and lat-long coordinates, which can be many meters different than NAD 27. So although the UTM grid on the map can be used for taking compass bearings, it can't be used for radioing coordinates back to the CP unless you make sure the CP is looking at the same map. This is just likely to cause confusion and I would avoid it unless there is some very good reason, such as the possibility that you're using a trail or road that is marked on the map but not on the satellite.

(Having said this, knowing how to give and use a proper 8-figure UTM coordinate as well as a lat-long coordinate is a good SAR skill. UTM coordinates are very much easier to use in the field with a map, and very handy for training purposes. The US military has used them for many years. We now teach this skill to all Unity CLE graduates along with the traditional Lat-Long system.)

Hope this is useful to you.

Happy mapping.

Mick Womersley
MASAR Resource Officer
Unity College SAR

Possible Search on Sunday November 28, 2010

From MASAR:

Lt. Kevin Adam has contacted MASAR to determine the availability of searchers for Sunday, Nov. 28.

The search is in Saco in the Saco Heath.  The areas to be searched are potentially very wet.

The subject is a 22 year old despondent male who has been missing since last Sunday.

 

FSAR

  Please contact me with "likely Yes or Likely No" via email or cell before noon on Friday Nov. 26 so I can give MASAR a count for our team. I will call any members who have not responded by that time. Thanks.

-Mit

MDI SAR article

The following article ran in the Bar Harbor Times Soup Last week.

Click to read the MDI SAR article

Crazy Busy Lives

I have been in contact with a good portion of the team in the past week, many have talked about how crazy-busy their lives have become. People are dealing with medical emergencies, work, family commitments, and more which makes attending the monthly FSAR meeting difficult. 

How can I remain a contributing team member even if I need to skip a monthly meeting?

• Keep your priorities straight; put your family and job before FSAR.
• Workout, hike, ski, keep your body in shape (could you hike/snowshoe Bigelow tomorrow if we had a call on Avery Peak?)
• Keep your ready-pack stocked for the current season.
• Maintain the appropriate footwear, clothing, outerwear and gear for the season.
• Stay in touch with other team members via email and make a board member aware of extended times when you would be unable to respond to a call.
• Try and attend the next FSAR meeting, it is the second Wednesday of the month at 6:30, usually at KFD.

A quick email or call is appreciated if you will not be able to attend. This helps to keep you ‘in the loop’ and the board aware of your status.

Be well and keep in touch!

-Mit

 Smoke from the campfire and a rising moon creates some interesting night effects on MDI.in September.

FSAR meeting minutes 11-10-10

We only had 4 members at this month's meeting. I heard from a number of members who were unable to attend (I appreciate the emails and calls beforehand if you will be unable to attend, thanks) However we had a good training.

We worked halfway through MASARs Search Tactics section of the BASAR class. Members learned about and discussed:
• PLS- Place Last Seen
• LKP-Last known point
• Touched on: lost person behavior
• POD-Probability of detection (this is a %)
• Passive search methods: attraction, confinement, track traps
• Active search methods: Grid search, dog teams, air assets and dive teams.
• Discussed Critical separation

In the meeting we discussed the process of selecting the best wheel to purchase for our litter (grant funded, thank you Sugarloaf Charitable Trust!)

Al, Barry and Will and other Sugarloafers were unable to make the meeting so we will hear a review of the big Sugarloaf scenario training at the December meeting.

Steve will create a laminated FSAR active roster for all members and will distribute it at the next meeting.

Next Meeting December 8, KFD 6:30.

Search for 85 yo man in Bingham, Me. 9-3-2010

9-3-2010

Search for Missing man in Bingham

Around 6 a.m. Maine Warden Kevin Adam contacted FSAR about a missing 85 y.o. man in Bingham. He had been missing all night from his home in Bingham. The PLS was 4 miles south of Bingham on Rt. 16.

Warden Adam asked that FSAR be on standby to assist in the search. He was conducting a hasty search for the individual and if he had not located him my 9:30, he was going to call for a full scale search. The MASAR duty officer and FSAR membership was notified by Steve Y and Steve M but only 2 members were available at the time due to work commitments.

Hurricane Earl was threatening the Maine coast with a possibility of making landfall within the next 24 hours. Around 9 a.m. Steve Y was notified that the individual had been found.

Tumbledown Mtn. Rescue 8-29-2010

Rescue call on Tumbledown Mtn. in Weld

Sunday evening around 6 p.m. August 29, 2010

FSAR was requested by Franklin Dispatch to respond to a rescue of woman in her mid 30’s that had lost feeling in her extremities. The patient had multiple sclerosis (MS). She had hiked to the top of Tumbledown Mtn. and was at the pond. A Northstar Ambulance crew was the first to reach the patient and began to evaluate and hydrate the patient. Because of the warm weather and the fact that this was the last weekend before the local schools began their academic year, very few rescuers from area fire departments responded.

The Northstar team was able to get the patient ambulatory and she began the slow hike down the mountain. In all, about 15 people participated in the rescue; FSAR had 3 members along with Phillips FD, Wilton FD, a Maine Warden, and others.
The game warden was able to use an ATV to evacuate the patient for the final 1/3 of the trail to the waiting ambulance. She was transported to FMH. All people were off the trail by 9 p.m. with no injuries

Cranberry Peak Carry-out

Rescuers from a number of local emergency-response teams responded to a hiker in need in the Bigelow Range near Stratton last Monday. The 17 year-old girl from Utah was hiking with friends on the Cranberry Peak Trail when she began experiencing seizures. Fortunately her friends were able to obtain a cell phone signal and could contact the authorities for help. A Northstar Ambulance crew was the first team to make contact with the patient around 12:30 p.m. As more rescuers arrived the patient was loaded into a litter basket for the trip to the ambulance located at the trail-head. About 25 people took turns carrying the patient an estimated 1.5 miles down the trail. A rope belay was used to secure the litter for 2 different steep sections of trail. High humidity and temperatures in the 90’s made the relatively short carry-out a challenge.  The rescue took about 3.5 hours and included volunteers from Eustis Fire Department, Carrabassett FD and Franklin Search & Rescue.

Jake and Sprague run the litter belay

Northstar EMT Vanessa stayed at the patient's head monitoring her condition for the entire carry-out.

  Bob and Pat lead the way

Bob gets a cool-down from Sprague at the trail-head after successfully completing the mission.