As National Search and Rescue (SAR) month comes to an end, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office shared an update about some recent planning and a drill that our SAR team participated in. At the beginning of this year, the Yakona Nature Preserve Director, Dr. Natalie Schaffer, reached out to Newport Fire Department and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office to inquire about an evacuation drill for their faculty.
After several meetings, it was decided that our Search and Rescue team would put together a joint training exercise at the Yakona Nature Preserve. On June 21, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team and Marine Patrol division, along with Newport Fire Department and Yakona Nature Preserve, conducted a drill at the nature preserve. The drill encompassed the packaging of an injured person, and different ways to package a person and safely carry them to a location for transport.
The drill also included evacuation planning in the event that there was a forest fire or another type of emergency that cut off the ability for emergency responders to be able to get into the nature preserve. The faculty of the Yakona Nature Preserve did an exceptional job in packaging and safely carrying an injured person to a location near the water, where our Marine team could load the person onto a boat and take them to a waiting ambulance.
The Sheriff's Office thanked Newport Fire Department for helping with this drill and the planning. They also thanked Dr. Natalie Schaffer and her team for reaching out to the Sheriff's Office to help with this drill and evacuation planning for their team. This kind of community cooperation helps all emergency responders involved have a pre-plan in the event of a natural disaster that may impact the public in the more remote areas of Lincoln County.
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