Deschutes County SAR Prepares for Busy Holiday Weekend

FOLD, OR — The Deschutes County Search and Rescue team is fully staffed and ready for the busy Fourth of July holiday.“We welcome visitors who come to see us, we live in a beautiful region. We receive people on the lakes, people on motorcycles, mountain bikers, etc.,” he explains. Lt. Ty Rupert told KBND News that the holiday season is usually a busy time for his search and rescue teams. But the weather and summer activities make it even more intense.I think over the last holiday weekend that we had, I think we had six service calls that weekend alone.

DCSO SAR frequently responds to popular spots like Smith Rock and local reservoirs. “Unfortunately, we do get drowning calls. That’s why we want to make sure we encourage people to always wear life jackets and be water safe. I know one of the causes we see is alcohol or impairment in drownings. So we want to encourage people not to mix the two.”but they are also ready if they need to be deployed outside of Deschutes County,”East of the mountains, we are the largest search and rescue unit in the state. We are also a fully equipped search and rescue unit. We have our own dive teams, mountain rescue teams, etc., K9s, medics. And so, we are often called out by other counties.”

Lieutenant Rupert says visitors often don’t realise how quickly the weather can change and he urges everyone to be prepared for anything,Last year, I think, we had a guest come and hike the Pacific Crest Trail. It was nice and warm here in Bend and she wasn’t prepared. She was wearing sandals on the hike and woke up the next morning with a good amount of snow on the ground. She called search and rescue to come rescue her and get her out of that situation.” He says packing the right gear and wearing the right footwear is key to avoiding the need for rescue.

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