• Injured Woman Near Echo Lake - 1999
At about 3:30 pm on Wednesday August 3, SAR was toned out for an injured woman on the trail somewhere between Upper Echo and Lily Lakes. The RP called us from a pay phone to inform us of a woman who had fallen and suffered head and facial injuries.
Responding (in an impressive downpour) and arriving within 20 minutes were Haen, Truesdell (with 901), Matikosh and Butts, with Haen first on scene to establish Echo Command. Braus rolled in not too far behind as our MAST member. Deputy Long responded from the City to cover until a SAR Coordinator could get there, and the en route Coordinator, Deputy Harris, approved a strategy of running a hasty team of three (Haen, Matikosh, and Truesdell) to the trailhead in the SO's new boat (in place on Echo Lake for just such an occasion), giving us a big head start on the rescue.
Just as we were getting underway, the ferry crew at the upper end of the lake reported that they thought they had the woman in question on board, so we went out to intercept and verify that we could immediately call off any further response.
Sure enough, she had been assisted down to the Lake and was on the ferry. We followed it back to Echo Chalet where we interviewed the victim, who refused medical aid, and wrapped up the rest of the SAR.
We all felt most sorry for poor Deputy Harris, who responded all the way from Meeks Bay to Echo Lake in heavy weather and even heavier traffic, only to get stuck with a bunch of paperwork and a long drive back to his home turf.
—Lynda Matikosh
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