Stillwater County Search and Rescue
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2014 Requests:
Call #                          Date                                      Call Time                                     Mission
2014-014                   11/14/2014                         12:00                  Rescue-2 hunters disabled vehicle Benbow jeep trail

2014-013                   10/20/2014                         11:20                  Rescue-2 men stuck on an island in Yellowstone River

2014-012                    09/21/2014                         08:00                  Search-Mutual Aid to Sweet Grass County, missing hunter

2014-011                    08/10/2014                          09:00                 Search-Granite Peak/Avalanche lake, overdue climber from OK

2014-010                    08/02/2014                          11:53                 Rescue-Benbow, rider thrown from horse

2014-009                    07/26/2014                          17:12                  Rescue-Yellowstone River, Twin Bridges, raft against pylons

2014-008                    07/22/2014                          15:17                  Search-Upper Stillwater, unattended kayak

2014-007                    07/19/2014                          18:29                  Search-Yellowstone River, overturned raft near Itch Kep Pe

2014-006                    07/19/2014                          18:29                  Search-Stillwater River, recovery

2014-005                    07/08/2014                          16:00                  Search-Sioux Charley Trail, 2 missing boys

2014-004                    07/07/2014                          10:00                  Search-Mutual aid Carbon County, missing boy

2014-003                    06/29/2014                          12:00                  Rescue-Stillwater River, overturned raft

2014-002                    06/21/2014                          16:00                  Search-Woodbine Campground, missing 3 year old

2014-001                    05/23/2014                          11:23                   Recovery-Stillwater River, recovery (horse) Absarokee

2013 Requests:

Call #                          Date                                      Call Time                                     Mission
2013-008                    07/24/2013                          16:04                                             Search-Mutual Aid to Carbon County, East Rosebud Drowning

2013-007                    07/12/2013                          15:00                                             Search-Drowing on Stillwater River, Dew Drop

2013-006                    07/12/2013                          14:30                                             Search-Toddler in river, Firemans Point

2013-005                    06/29/2013                          13:00                                             Search-Overturned Raft Stillwater River

2013-004                    06/29/2013                          12:56                                             Search-Overturned Raft Stillwater River
2013-003                     05/28/2013                         18:57                                             Rescue-Horse stuck in Rosebud River
                                     -A horse was stuck in the Rosebud River, SAR was called to help rescue the horse as well as maintain scene safety. The swiftwater techs were able to safely get the horse to shore and was in stable condition shortly after getting out of the river.
2013-002                     05/27/2013                          12:07                                             Rescue-Overturned raft on the Stillwater River
                                       -Raft overturned on the Stillwater River leaving 4 individuals trapped on a boulder in the river. Swiftwater techs responded and assisted the individuals in getting off the boulder and across the river.
2013-001                    02/07/2013                           10:00                                            Search-Structure Fire
                                      -SAR K9 was asked to search through the rubble of a structure fire for missing person. Missing party was located shortly after the request. No response was made.

Stillwater County Search and Rescue Team responds to several requests a year!  
In 2011 Stillwater County Search and Rescue responded to approximately:
20 requests for service, 10 being searches and 10 being rescues.


2012 Requests:
Call #                   Date                      Call time                   Mission

2011-021                 12/15/2011               22:29                        Assist/Columbus Fire MVA
                 -Motorist drove off 300ft embankment-SAR rope team assisted with rescue.

2012-001                  3/5/2012                 20:30                        Search-Overdue Kayaker
                 -Overdue Kayaker near Sportsmans Park, Park City, MT.  
Located shortly after page went out.

2012-002                  6/23/2012               21:20                        Search mutual aid request/Sweet Grass County
                 -Missing person in Sweet Grass county, East Boulder/Deer Creek area.  Assisted with   preliminary search the night of 6/23, again the morning of 6/24.  Missing person was injured and able to call for help the morning of 6/24.  With the help of GPS/Phone tracking systems he was located and rescued shortly after 0900 Saturday morning 6/24.

2012-003                  6/24/2012               17:10                       Swiftwater Rescue on Stillwater River
                -Kayaker trapped under water on the Stillwater River.  

Columbus Fire and  Ambulance treated the patient and transported to Columbus Hospital.  Search and Rescue maintained scene safety, then removed a raft that was pinned against the pillar of the bridge posing a hazard.

2012-004               07/18/2012               12:00                        Search-Overdue climbers Granite Peak
               -Two climbers from Texas did not return from climbing Granite Peak when scheduled to do so.  Stillwater SAR had each of the three possible trail heads checked for the climbers vehicle, neither East or West Rosebud trail head had the vehicle.  Park County was scheduled to check the trail head outside of Cooke City, but before able to do so the hikers cell phone was tracked by Stillwater County Sheriffs Office and located just outside Cooke City.  Both climbers ok and just had gotten delayed.


2012-005               07/25/2012               20:20                         Fire Evacuations
               -Skibstab Fire evacuations, SAR paged then cancelled before immobilizing

2012-006               07/25-26/2012         11:00                          Fire Evacuations/Roadblock 
               -Skibstab Fire evacuations, mandatory evacuations took place on 07/25 with road blocks maintained by SAR personnel through 07/26.            

2012-007             07/29/2012                 07:00                          Search-mutual aid request/Carbon County
               -Two missing hikers on the Hell Roaring Plateau in Carbon County, SAR members responded to assist Absaroka Search Dogs and Carbon County SAR in searching for the two hikers.  Hikers were located shortly after 13:00 lost, cold and hungry but in fair condition.

2012-008              08/15/2012               10:26                          Search Mystic Lake spot beacon alert
              -A hiker in the Mystic Lake area was to check in twice a day by way of his spot beacon, on the third day he no longer was checking in.  His wife was concerned something may have happened. SAR was assembled and a hasty/medical team was deployed to the trail head.  We had the last coordinates from previous check in with that being our initial search area.  Just before arriving at the trail head teams met up with the hiker, who was cold and hungry and felt unequipped for the conditions.  He was returning home and didnt realize his beacon was not working properly.

2012-009               08/19/2012               17:26                             Injured climber Froze to Death Plateau
              -climber on Granite Peak had a boulder roll over his leg, he was able to work his way back down and across the plateau until he had cell service and called for help. He felt his injury was not life threatening, however he wasnt sure where he was and he was not able to make it out on his own.  SAR started assembling a horse team, ground teams and placed calls to Malmstrom for air assistance.  Due to the hour the decision to go in at first light was made. Ground teams were sent up Mystic Lake/Phantom trail to the plateau, as well as the Huckleberry creek trail. On the East Rosebud side a horse team and search dogs were sent in by way of Phantom Creek Trail.  At approximately 1030 ground teams on the Mystic/Phantom Creek Trail found the injured climber and his two climbing partners.  The horse team was diverted to their location and the patient was transported down to the Mystic Trail head where his companions took him to medical care.      

2012-010               08/24/2012               18:15                              Sick climber near Granite Peak
               -A reporting party called to say he had passed by a climber near Granite Peak suffering from what appeared to be altitude sickness.  Several quick actions led to a helicopter out of Billings being able to land near Granite Peak and pick up the climber, then transport him to an ambulance crew at the Columbus airport. From there he was transported to a Billings Hospital.



2012-011               09/14-09/15/2012   20:19                              Missing horseback rider, Yellowstone River-Mutual Aid to Treasure County
              -A 26 year old man was crossing the Yellowstone River on horseback to retrieve cattle around 2 pm, when he didnt return that evening a search was started. Stillwater county SAR with emphasis on the swift water team was requested at 20:19 on Thursday September 13th. The river was searched extensively for the next several days with the body being recovered on September 17th after being spotted by a helicopter with sonar equipment.


2012-012                09/25/2012             16:10                               Missing child
               -SAR paged to assist the Sheriffs office in a missing child report west of Columbus.  SAR deployed then requested to stand down, the child was located shortly after the page.


2012-013               10/19/2012              21:19                                Missing 95 year old
               -A 95 year old man was reported missing after not returning from an afternoon walk west of Columbus. SAR was paged approximately 9:20 pm, while assembling missing party was located. He had gotten disoriented and turned around during his walk but was in satisfactory condition.


2012-014               11/13/2012               10:04                              Possible suicide
               -Search and rescue was requested to aid in the search for a possible overdose victim. Missing person found shortly after request.