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Harrison County SAR Search for Possible Drowning Victim

Incident of Choice:

Harrison County SAR Search for Possible Drowning Victim

Jeremiah Palmer (4145412)

American Public University

EDMG230 – Spring 2011

George J. Munkenbeck

05/04/2011

On May 12, 2010, a person on Snakelick Road in Harrison county dialed 911 to report a possible drowning. The person reported that they had seen what appeared to be a body with black hair lashing about in the swollen Richland Creek. Harrison County 911 dispatchers notified the local fire, emergency management, and police agencies of the incident. Harrison County Fire unit 403 arrived on scene first and established Incident Command (HCEMA, 2010). Shortly thereafter, other units en route responded.

Once on scene, SAR coordinator, unit 807 took IC and dispatched responding SAR & Fire units to the last point where the unknown body was seen and a bridge downstream. SO unit 374 took report from the witness for submission to the Sherriff’s Office records, and to brief the IC. (M. Palmer, personal communication, May 13, 2010). Search efforts continued for approximately two hours until a decision was made that the area was unsafe due to the continuing rain and ever-rising waters (HCEMA, 2010). EMA unit 806 and SAR unit 807 requested that 374 and dispatch keep them notified of any further related reports and possible missing persons reports. All units left the scene to report back the following morning.

On May 13, 2010, SAR teams arrived back to the scene and continued search efforts. Approximately two and a half hours into the continued search a witness came forward to say that they had seen the remains of a cow floating downstream matching the vague description given by the initial witness. As no reports of a missing person had been filed, decision was made by 807 to discontinue the search and close the incident. (HCSAR, 2010)

Throughout the search operations, an Incident Command System had been in place. Beginning with arrival of 403, a point of operations and central command was established. Upon arrival of senior/more qualified units IC was turned over. Unit 807 acted as incident command at the top of the chain, EMA unit 806 as logistics. Units 403 and 374 acted as liaisons for their respective agencies; additionally, EMA/SAR unit 812 assumed the role of PIO liaison. All other units were general staff performing the necessary footwork on scene.

This incident was small and did not require all of the possible functions mapped out in larger ICS structures. Though it may seem that in smaller incidents like this there is some ease in operations, there can be found even more confusion. Who, exactly, would a straggling SAR/Fire unit report to upon arrival to the scene? In Harrison County, many of our SAR members are volunteer fireman, understandably. Our EMA director and SAR coordinator are also volunteer fireman. Our SAR coordinator is also an EMA deputy (this stems from local SARs being under guidance of EM). A green fireman could easily become lost in trying to find where they should report.

Naturally, law enforcement on scene took report from the initial witness, so it would be safe to assume that he would fill a role in gathering information on the incident. But who, then, is to continue gathering information? Units 806, 807, and 403 continued to gather information, which is beneficial in the respect to having multiple accounts being taken; however having multiple accounts being gathered from such a small number of involved individuals is seemingly wasteful.

Assigning the role of PIO/liaison to unit 812 is a smart move in many situations as she is more comfortable with the public and fills the administrative positions for the SAR most of the time. In this incident she could have easily been assigned the duties of gathering information as well since the incident was small. Doing so could have enabled her to give a quicker report of the situation to the public.

In this instance, ICS failed overall due to the small scale of the incident. The incident, however, was still managed well and as quickly as possible without any grand complications. To improve this situation, more meetings and table-top exercise need to be conducted in order to iron out these wrinkles and emphasize who acts in which capacity when they are members of multiple agencies.

References

Harrison County Emergency Management Agency. (2010, May 13). 2010 Situation Report File. Incident # 2010-00007809. Cynthiana, KY

Harrison County Search & Rescue. (2010, May 12). SAR team was called.. [Online Forum Comment]. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/hcsar/posts/121758231182521

Mirrored from Being Jeremiah Palmer.

Discussion Board

This writing was originally submitted as an assignment for one of my classes.

In the foyer of Eastside Elementary in Cynthiana, KY, above the trophy/presentation cases hung a black & white photograph of a tornado in the sky, overlooking the Harrison County Bus Garage. I noticed this picture when I was in the first or second grade, and it has held a special place in my mind for some time.

I believe that I had asked my mother one afternoon if she had ever noticed it, and knew when the picture was taken. She proceeded to tell me of a day in when she was eleven, going on twelve, back in 1974 that seemed to be fairly uneventful. She had noticed what time it was getting to be—that her favorite show was about to come on the air—so she dashed to the kitchen, grabbed and empty Pepsi bottle, ran out the front door and around the corner to the neighboring convenient store. Like a whirlwind she ran into the store, placing her bottle on the counter, ran to the back to retrieve a new one, ran back to the counter, dropping some change on it as she flew past. Exiting the door, rounding the corner back to her home, she was stopped by a gust of wind carrying dirt and leaves into her face. Shaking her head, and brushing her hair from her brow, she looked up and saw a huge black cloud in the distance. Puzzled, confused and scared, she was frozen. Her jaw dropped, and her hand lost it’s grip on her soft drink. She could hear police sirens wailing and the civil defense siren begin to spin up. Her mother bolted out the door of their apartment, scooped her up off the sidewalk, ran inside with her and took her to the bedroom to hurdle on the floor with her siblings under the mattress.

Mom then began to tell me that from what she had heard from my father and what she had read in the paper, that roughly the same time, just a few miles away near the community of Connersville, my dad was hiding in the basement with his parents and sister, listening to the wind screaming outside before it ripped the roof off their home.

She then went on to tell me how there had been an outbreak of tornadic storms that day, and that several cities and towns were hit pretty hard. She told me of a small place called Xenia, OH, over 100 miles away that was destroyed, and how those of us here, in Cynthiana and other places in Kentucky and other states faired better.

It was then that I began to have an interest in weather.

I’ve not experienced an event in my lifetime that sticks out as well as the one that I was told. I’ve experienced some nice flooding, snow, and ice events. I’ve had my home become surrounded by water up to four feet deep in the front lawn from rains that flooded area streams. I’ve dug my way through three feet snows, slid around on inches of ice, even helped clean up buildings that were completely filled with water in 1997. None of these have compared to hearing about the Super Outbreak.

I hope to learn as much as I can from this class, particularly what goes on there in Norman and how the SPC comes to figuring out probabilities for phenomena. I want to know more about the GFS, NAM, etc. I want to know everything! (I probably want to know more than what this course was designed to handle!)

NOTE: I am not affiliated with or responsible for any of the images linked within this message. Images were obtained via an Internet search and were included for educational purposes. Click images to enlarge–you will be leaving the APU/AMU servers. Yes, I did embed a Wikipedia link, and we all know that the educational system “hates” Wikipedia; but you can use Wikipedia as a good springboard to further develop your research–that’s what the referenced footnotes in the Wikipedia article are for! 😉

Mirrored from Being Jeremiah Palmer.

Jeremiah Hall Palmer

This writing was originally submitted as an assignment in one of my classes.

Good [INSERT APPROPRIATE TIME OF DAY] everyone.

As you can see by the message details above (and subject line), my name is Jeremiah. I hail from a small town named Cynthiana in central Kentucky. I’m currently unemployed (and have been for some time–for the most-part I am a homemaker). I volunteer a great deal of my spare time to the local emergency management agency, performing random tasks as needed; primarily, I maintain the agency’s site and social networking profiles.

I’m a husband to one–I don’t think I could handle more even if it were legal ;)–and father of three.

I can’t really think of much more to say about myself, so feel free to google me:

Mirrored from Being Jeremiah Palmer.

Linda Marie Riley: July 2, 1957 – October 22, 2010

Earlier today, I helped in the burial and memorial of my mother-in-law.

The following is the eulogy that Diana delivered, which her and I wrote:

Linda lived a life that was filled with many points of struggle and hardship; however at the end she had received so much in reward for the obstacles she had faced.

Linda Sue McKinney was born into this world in 1957. Her birth parents being unable to care for her, she was eventually placed into an orphanage. There, approximately a year later, she was given a new life with a family looking to adopt and give a beautiful baby girl the chance for a better life. Lin Marie Buege became her name, and she found a happier and healthier home in Lombard, Illinois.

Even though Lin loved her family so much, she believed that she should make a journey and seek out her biological parents. At age 16, Lin left her schooling, picked up a few jobs, and trekked to New York then Florida to find her birth father and mother.

While in Florida, Lin married and had her first daughter, Celena Easters. Tragically, six months after having given birth, Lin was faced with one of the hardest things a person can do—something we are now facing—losing a loved one. Celena was buried in Florida, and sometime later Lin and her husband separated. This tragedy, however, did help lead the way to some better days. Linda eventually met Mark Richardson, and the two moved to Kentucky, where they eventually had three children—Diana Dawn Richardson, Mark Douglas Richardson, and Angelica Michelle Richardson.

Though she had finally found herself with the ability to settle and have a family of her own, times were still very difficult. Eventually the stresses of hardship became too much for the relationship that Linda and Mark had, and they separated but kept a close friendship. Over time, after having believed that her heart would never feel for anyone that close again, she found that God had sent her an angel to save her.

Around the year 1997, Linda met Wm. Fred Riley. Fred, being a man of great heart, shared as much as he could with Linda and her children. Over the next few years, their friendship and love for another grew, and they were eventually wed in October of 2001. Together, Linda and Fred became Nana and Papaw to ten wonderful grandchildren. Together, they even helped to raise one granddaughter, Mariah, in their home, fulltime.

In these later years, Linda had found so much love and happiness—she had finally been given her reward for having a hard life. She had found so much love and joy; and shared as much of it that she could with all of us.

Family gatherings on holidays or just for fun; grandchildren’s parties at home, in the park, or across the county; barbecues and cook-outs; phone calls talking us through our own hard-times; even a simple morning cup of coffee and sharing a little bit of gossip—Linda shared her love and time with us; tried to stand by all of us; always tried to give us all that she could. Linda was there for us, and is still here with us, in our hearts and our thoughts.

Someone once said “grieve not, nor speak of me with tears, but laugh and talk of me as if I were beside you there.”

That is how Linda—that is how Nana—that is how Mom would want us to remember her. She would want us to laugh, to joke and to speak like she was with us.

Mom, I feel you beside me, and even though I will miss you every day, I will try to speak of you with a smile on my face and not a tear in my eye.

An online obituary is available for viewing at:
http://www.woodheadfuneralhome.com

I hate what I’ve become. I think. Maybe it’s that I hate what I am becoming. Or maybe it’s… I really don’t know what it is, actually. There’s just something about me that I don’t really care for, and I really can’t tell if it is me or is what I am turning out to be, or…

I’m finding it harder and harder to keep my mouth shut and keep my thoughts to myself, and I’m starting to question whether that is a good thing or not. There was a time where I was very withdrawn. I still am, but…

For quite some time now I’ve blogged (more in the fashion of microblogging since I discovered twitter) all the thoughts that I’ve wanted to share with anyone who’d listen. Doing so has been very empowering. I’ve felt a little more comfortable in my skin since I started publishing everything from how many cups of coffee I drank in a day, to what made me curl up into a ball and cry. I’ve felt more human. Until recently.

I am becoming a monster.

I’m finding more things that irritate me these days, and I am finding it more difficult to filter my thoughts–to know when to keep that certain feeling to myself or hidden away from others. This bothers me.

Earlier today I saw a quick blurb an acquaintance I have (be)friended on facebook, and it just rubbed me the wrong way. I really don’t know why it bothered me so much either. And, I guess that it wasn’t limited to the one blurb, but the comments that started to surround it as well. It was all innocent, wasn’t it? Just someone expressing their feelings on a matter, something that I do fairly frequently–something I’m doing at this moment. So, where’s the harm? Why did my feathers get ruffled?

The person had written about how they had received an email message from another giving rumor to a major soft-drink manufacturer printing the Pledge of Allegiance on their soda cans with the “under God” portion removed (a rumor which is more than four years old, I believe). The person continued to say something to the affect that they were enraged that a major American company would withdraw those two words in order to “keep from offending,” as the rumor stated, persons holding other religious beliefs.

I’m still trying to figure out why I drew offense from hers. My feelings might come from a statement she made equating to the United States being a “Christian” nation and that those who do not like it could “get out”. Maybe I didn’t quite like her views because in my reading I felt that it was somewhat implied that anyone who did not fit her faith should leave the country. And, of course, there were a slew of comments attached from her following with their variants of praise.

All the while I couldn’t help but think of how I had been taught that our nation, while based on “Christian values”–loose morals that are pretty much accepted by most major religions–was settled by people fleeing from a land where they were told how to worship. Wouldn’t her statement be akin to her bellowing that we must all give praise to God? Isn’t that (loosely, granted) telling us how we should worship? Ordering me to pray to God and not letting me feel free to practice Pastafarianism?

And what about this nation’s original inhabitants, those who are natives to this land, what about their religious freedoms? If any group of people should have any right to cry for the removal of those not sharing their beliefs I would think the remaining Native American tribes should have that honor. Oh, wait… Christianity became a major Native American religion due to the various missionary efforts in our nations history.

I don’t know. The whole thing just bugged me… And I wanted to let it be known.

I came close to responding to that blurb and line of comments. Somehow, and thankfully so, I refrained. Then, I found another blurb generated by a status shuffler which begged me to make a snarky comment. Again, I managed to refrain.

It’s this sort of thing that has been bothering me. My desire to inject or attach my opinion to the conversation

I realized something the other day, and it troubles me. I really haven’t had much emotion for Diana in a while. And one thought I just had as the song played on the radio, is that I haven’t had feelings for her like in “I don’t want to miss a thing”

Garfield on the Town

Just about every morning when I wake up, I say to myself, “Good, morning, Morning.”

…this was one of those mornings. As I slowly turned out of bed and touched my toe to the floor, I thought “I hate cold floors.” Sure enough, the floor was freezing.

Now, for your viewing pleasure, and to let you see what influenced my odd morning thoughts so many years ago, I bring you the cat who hates mornings nearly as much as he hates Mondays. (Too bad today is Tuesday…):

Garfield
Continue reading “Garfield on the Town”

tradition, change, and whose is bigger

Have you heard the story on Cynthiana’s new city commission? Well, the long story is at The Cynthiana Democrat. The short story is as follows:
Mayor Jim Brown is temporarily out of commission (pun half-intended). Brown fell ill on Christmas Eve. The old commission selected Jack Keith as Mayor Pro-tem. In a special meeting of the new commission all hell broke loose. Commissioner Mark Mattmiller claimed he should now take the seat. Commissioner Amanda Moore agreed. Commisioner Keith says he should stay as mayor pro-tem. Commissioner Jimmy New agreed.  Cynthiana only has four commisioners, with the Mayor breaking split decisions.
Oh. Crap. Continue reading “tradition, change, and whose is bigger”

Cofflubreak & a Dead Commission

This morning, on WCYN’s Coffeebreak with Rick Chasteen…
Guests were Crystal Caudill & Spencer Cathey of WEDCO. Topics of discussion bounced from finances, civic activities, community health, and so on.
One point of discussion which I found entertaining revolved around influenza. Rick had noted that it had seemed that there hadn’t been much news on the flu this year, and that it seemed that within recent weeks word of flu related illness had increased. Crystal advised that the local Health Department still has enough vaccinations in their stockpile for anyone interested in receiving a flu shot.
Continue reading “Cofflubreak & a Dead Commission”