This friday I thought I would share some important information..After the Kim incident, I think we should all be careful while travelling during the holidays..Be safe...
Tips if you're looking for a lost person -- or if you're lost yourself
These are the steps you take on a search, and what a lost victim can do to help:
Localize search area: Search and rescue commanders always start by defining the search area where the victim was last seen and then they confine efforts to that area. If the lost party does not move, this provides the greatest chance of a find. If he or she hikes off, the search area becomes much larger and the task far more difficult.
Make noise: If in a vehicle, sound the horn and wait for a response. If in the field, blow a whistle, shout, or sound an air horn. This is one of the best ways to be found. There have been cases where a victim takes a nap in the forest, and rescuers, walking in a silent vigil looking for signs, walk right past, 15 feet away.
Recreate victim's thoughts: Many people lack basic woodsmanship and survival skills -- how to make fire, stay dry and warm, stay hydrated, and obtain and conserve food. That is why you have to get inside of the mind of the victim, even if those thoughts do not make sense to a skilled woodsman. In this case, Kim may have descended into the Rogue River Canyon, thinking he could walk downstream to the coast, though a survival specialist would never do that.
Leave a trace: Rescuers were excited Tuesday when a spare pair of pants that Kim was carrying were discovered, because it shows they are on the right track. Search teams will look for pieces of clothing, candy wrappers (especially when searching for lost youngsters), pages of a book, broken and collected piles of branches, paper refuse from a wallet, anything that will provide a trail that could lead to rescue.
Shoeprints: If the specific shoeprint of the lost victim can be identified, it will not only help rescuers track the victim, but will also discount other stray prints they may come across.
Aerial search, Part I: For searches over large areas, or in wooded steep terrain, the use of airplanes and helicopters can be overrated because it is so difficult to spot people in forests and canyons. But if the victim stays put and makes a huge, long-lasting bonfire, it becomes far easier to spot the site during a night surveillance flight and pass on GPS coordinates to ground teams.
Aerial search, Part II: When an area is localized, helicopters work best because they can search specific areas divided into grids. Even then, you can miss the victims. In a case in Washington a few years ago, it turned out a helicopter search flew right over a lost hiker four times until he finally flagged it down by wildly waving his bright yellow rain pants. On Monday, Kati Kim was able to attract the attention of a search helicopter by ingeniously taping reflector strips to an umbrella and then using it as a signal beacon.
Thermal equipment: Using a heat-seeking sensor from the air to find people is far from foolproof because it will pick up wildlife and can function poorly in a forest.
Up or down?: It seems that adults who are lost will often descend into canyons and then try to walk down streams to find safety (very dangerous, since you can violate the most important survival rule: stay dry and warm), but lost kids go uphill to ridges to try to see where they are. I was involved in a case in Tuolumne County where most of the teams searched a river canyon to find a lost youngster, but a sheriff, on a lark, climbed to a ridge lookout and found the kid (hungry, but otherwise fine).
Taken from SF Chronicle
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