Anyone ever enlisted for misssing persons search?

[arbor pro]

Just curious if any of you have ever been elisted to help look for a missing person due to aerial equipment you have or because you could climb trees?

I just got back from a search for a 2 year old girl who wandered from her rural home into the family's quarter-section (160 acre) cornfield and didn't return when her parents called for her. Girl apparently got lost in the tall dense corn thetemp is around 35 today with heavy rain/snow coming down. It wouldn't take long for a 2 year old to get hypothermia. On top of that, the area cornfields are full of mud and standing water as we've been getting lots of rain lately. Not a good scenario. The parents called 911 and all area responders and volunteers got called out to look for the girl.

I took my 55' towable genie lift out to the site to get a bird's eye view of the cornfield. Volunteers were everywhere and ATVs were showing up by the dozens to drive the field and look for her.

Anyhow, they found her and took her immediately into the ambulance to start evaluating her. Don't know if she was hypothermic but she was in the corn for at least an hour and a half. It was miserable for volunteers to be out in so it must have been the longest hour and a half imaginable for that little girl and for her parents. I have 3 little girls under the age of 5 so it hit home.

Just wondering if any of you have been involved with human rescue activities? I've been a part of them before but only from behind a computer making maps for search and rescue teams and tracking their progress. This was a new one for me.

 

[pdqdl]

This late in the year, I don't imagine that an aerial view from only 55' up would be a real big help. Or have they harvested it already?

I'll bet that farmer that owned the field just loved all that equipment farming around in his row crop. I wonder who pays the damages?

 

[capetrees]

Damages? Are you serious? A little girl is missing and the only way to find her is to search the acreage with vehicles and you'd be concerned about damages?

wow :jawdrop:

 

[treemandan]

I lost my kid for 3 minutes in a mall, a very bad 3 minutes for me. SHe was hiding.

 

[treemandan]

I was tooling down the road In Ambler when I saw some kids climbing down a concrete wash to get a ball and heard the one kid yelling. HE was scared and couldn't get out. I grab the rope and saddle and went to get him. Only took a few minutes, nobody around to see it so I didn't get my name in the paper.

 

[lego1970]

I wouldn't wish that horrible experience on my worst enemies. Glad they found her. To answer your question, no. Niether I nor anybody I've worked for been asked to do a search & rescue but whenever I hear a Amber alert on the radio I tune in and keep my eye out.

 

[Curtis James]

Nope. My freind did the cat out of the tree thing and got in the paper a while back.
I'm a Dad to and anything like that is a nightmare.

I doubt there was all that much damage to the corn. It's not like they were trampeling it just searching for a kid isn't gonna trash the crop.

 

[Hddnis]

I've done rescues, not really in my capacity as a tree climber though.


Mr. HE

 

[czar800]

I farm and if my little girl was missing i would run down the whole farm to help find her!! corn & beans can be replaced, but my litte one never!! (look at my avatar)

 

[treeslayer]

This late in the year, I don't imagine that an aerial view from only 55' up would be a real big help. Or have they harvested it already?

I'll bet that farmer that owned the field just loved all that equipment farming around in his row crop. I wonder who pays the damages?

You have got to be kidding.

Ever been 55' up? of course you have, and we can see a good ways. and unless the kid was in Camo, she'd stand out, plus, she would be moving more than likely.

EVERY little bit, (effort and time) counts when dealing with a missing kid.

I seriously doubt the farmer was worried about a load or 2 of feed corn.

 

[arbor pro]

You have got to be kidding.

Ever been 55' up? of course you have, and we can see a good ways. and unless the kid was in Camo, she'd stand out, plus, she would be moving more than likely.

EVERY little bit, (effort and time) counts when dealing with a missing kid.

I seriously doubt the farmer was worried about a load or 2 of feed corn.

The corn was very dense so you couldn't see into the field all that well but the lift was requested to get a lay of the land and to look for obvious clearings in the the field where the child might be. There was also the fear that perhaps she had wandered out of the corn before search and rescue had arived and gone into a neighboring field. A helicopter was in route to the field just as they found her.

As for the ATVs doing damage to the corn - well, it did look a bit thrashed in areas and I'm sure there will be some loss to the owner - and, by the way, the field was NOT owned by the parents of the girl - they rented it. But here's the heartwarming part - the landowner was the first one to enter the field with his pickup and start driving the corn to look for the little girl. Obviously, the little girl meant more to him than his cash crop.

 

[arbor pro]

I was tooling down the road In Ambler when I saw some kids climbing down a concrete wash to get a ball and heard the one kid yelling. HE was scared and couldn't get out. I grab the rope and saddle and went to get him. Only took a few minutes, nobody around to see it so I didn't get my name in the paper.

No good deed goes unrewarded.

 

[pdqdl]

Ok guys! Lighten up!

Silly me, I didn't read close enough, and I was presuming that the corn crop was in someone elses field. I guess I just didn't picture a farm family that owned the field loosing a child in it. I'll try to read more carefully next time.

Sure! You have to search the field, and I'm glad it all turned out well.

Quite frankly, if I lost a 2 year old kid in a cornfield, I wouldn't want anybody motoring around in it, either. Even if it was an entire 160 acre field of corn, that wouldn't take that long to search on foot, and there would be no chance of running the kid down.

Sorry...I just had this mental image of a bunch of crazy 4-wheeling fools running amuck in the tall corn.

 

[pdqdl]

Damages? Are you serious? A little girl is missing and the only way to find her is to search the acreage with vehicles and you'd be concerned about damages?

wow :jawdrop:

No, the best way to search a cornfield is on foot, looking down the rows. If you can't see the little girl through the density of the crop when walking, you damn sure can't see her with a pile of corn folding down against the front bumper. Hypothermia is a whole lot easier to treat than tire tracks running up her back.

I have been in a lot of cornfields, and I have never driven through one, either. I took my 4 year old into a mature crop (very tall and scratchy) about 8 years ago just to walk around. I was showing her where the food on the table comes from, and I was demonstrating to her the risk of getting lost in a big area with limited visibility. I would have presumed that a farm family would have done that even with a two year old if it was in the back yard.

160 acres is 1/4 mile square. One volunteer every 250' would be about 20 people. That would be looking down the rows 125' to the left, and 125' to the right, call out Clear!...check the next row. The whole field would be searched in 15 minutes, if they were systematic and did it one row at a time. Most quarter-sections are divided into plots of 20-40 acres, too, so that would reduce the number of folks per field. Post spotters on the rows between fields.

I can see taking a vehicle and mashing the corn down to form marker rows (with someone walking in front of the vehicle) to lay out a grid if there were not enough people.

But that is all semantics now. They found the kid, and presumably all is well.

Note: farms are traditionally in increments of 160 acres because there are 640 acres to a square mile, 160 acres to a square 1/4 mile, and many of the land giveaways from the past were laid out in square grids of 1/4 mile sections. You can use google earth to look around in the midwest today and still see the grid, prominently displayed in the roads and fields.

 

[wood4heat]

Does this sort of thing happen often? I am in search and rescue in the forrests of the PNW and on rare ocasions we get sent on urban searches but I'd never considered someone getting lost in a corn field.

 

[arbor pro]

No, the best way to search a cornfield is on foot, looking down the rows. If you can't see the little girl through the density of the crop when walking, you damn sure can't see her with a pile of corn folding down against the front bumper. Hypothermia is a whole lot easier to treat than tire tracks running up her back.

I have been in a lot of cornfields, and I have never driven through one, either. I took my 4 year old into a mature crop (very tall and scratchy) about 8 years ago just to walk around. I was showing her where the food on the table comes from, and I was demonstrating to her the risk of getting lost in a big area with limited visibility. I would have presumed that a farm family would have done that even with a two year old if it was in the back yard.

160 acres is 1/4 mile square. One volunteer every 250' would be about 20 people. That would be looking down the rows 125' to the left, and 125' to the right, call out Clear!...check the next row. The whole field would be searched in 15 minutes, if they were systematic and did it one row at a time. Most quarter-sections are divided into plots of 20-40 acres, too, so that would reduce the number of folks per field. Post spotters on the rows between fields.

I can see taking a vehicle and mashing the corn down to form marker rows (with someone walking in front of the vehicle) to lay out a grid if there were not enough people.

But that is all semantics now. They found the kid, and presumably all is well.

Note: farms are traditionally in increments of 160 acres because there are 640 acres to a square mile, 160 acres to a square 1/4 mile, and many of the land giveaways from the past were laid out in square grids of 1/4 mile sections. You can use google earth to look around in the midwest today and still see the grid, prominently displayed in the roads and fields.

A bit more info on the search. Apparently, the parents had been looking for the girl for well over an hour before calling in the search and rescue. By the time enough volunteers were rounded up to start walking the field, she had already been in the cold wet rain/snow for 2 hours with NO coat, hat or mittens - she had taken her coat and hat off while dad was going into the house to get her a set of mittens due to the cold.

I understand pdqdl's approach to searching the field as I often use that approach when walking corn for deer - you walk against the rows and look each direction right and left. I'm not sure why it took so long to find her - perhaps she was lying down under some weeds which is easy enough to do in a weedy cornfield. I've passed right over deer 20' away from me because they were tucked in underneeth bent over corn or tall weeds so i can see how a rescuer might easily pass over a little girl lying still and quiet 50' away.

From what I've been told today, the sound of the ATVs and pickup owned by the landowner aroused the girl enough to get her crying. Via radio, they all shut their vehicles down at the same time and listened once positioned throughout the field. It was then that they heard her crying and found her so apparently, the noise of the vehicles helped while the calls of the searchers on foot did not.

160 acres of corn is a relatively small area until a 2-year-old gets lost in it on a cold snowy day. Then it's as big as an ocean.

 

[pdqdl]

Yes, and weeds would be an issue too.

 

[treemandan]

A bit more info on the search. Apparently, the parents had been looking for the girl for well over an hour before calling in the search and rescue. By the time enough volunteers were rounded up to start walking the field, she had already been in the cold wet rain/snow for 2 hours with NO coat, hat or mittens - she had taken her coat and hat off while dad was going into the house to get her a set of mittens due to the cold.

I understand pdqdl's approach to searching the field as I often use that approach when walking corn for deer - you walk against the rows and look each direction right and left. I'm not sure why it took so long to find her - perhaps she was lying down under some weeds which is easy enough to do in a weedy cornfield. I've passed right over deer 20' away from me because they were tucked in underneeth bent over corn or tall weeds so i can see how a rescuer might easily pass over a little girl lying still and quiet 50' away.

From what I've been told today, the sound of the ATVs and pickup owned by the landowner aroused the girl enough to get her crying. Via radio, they all shut their vehicles down at the same time and listened once positioned throughout the field. It was then that they heard her crying and found her so apparently, the noise of the vehicles helped while the calls of the searchers on foot did not.

160 acres of corn is a relatively small area until a 2-year-old gets lost in it on a cold snowy day. Then it's as big as an ocean.

Would the Insurance cover the corn? My little daydreamer/ lilypicker is inclined to do just what this little girl did and it is scary as hell when they do.

My little girl was hiding in the play area in the mall. 3 mins of terror. I did look and call her, I didn't see her though I looked. They are good at hiding and when you call loudly they get scared, if they feel that they are doing something wrong it gets worse and they get more upset so they are reeluctant to move and stay hiding. At this age when kids get alone things are different as they are experimenting and experimanting probably with things you have allready told them not to.
When we play hide and seek we tell her that when we call in earnest that she should answer immediatly so we know she is safe from all that bad things. Kids then think " bad" when they start getting further away from mom and dad and also they are thinking all the things from books and TV shows and trying to put it together. They can't help doing what they do, its what they do.
So basically who knows why it took so long to find the kid, she was probably freaking the #### out. When I asked my kid why she didn't come when I called she said she was scared. She was out of her element, lost her bearing. Don't ask me why I didn't see her up there on the play slide cause I looked... they are great at hiding and that is kinda scary too.

 

[pdqdl]

Does this sort of thing happen often? I am in search and rescue in the forrests of the PNW and on rare ocasions we get sent on urban searches but I'd never considered someone getting lost in a corn field.

When the corn is tall, you can see for maybe 20 feet going against the rows, depending on the vigor of the crop and the plant spacing. Invariably, the rows are a bit crooked, so looking down the rows has limited range of vision too.

When you get inside the rows far enough, you have absolutely no visual cues as to where you are except for the sky and the direction of the rows. Its like walking around in a giant parking lot in the fog; you won't know where you are until you get to the edge again. If you have experience at it, or a keen sense of direction & distance: no problem. A two year old 100' inside the field, not paying attention: purely random which way they would go.

 

[arbor pro]

When the corn is tall, you can see for maybe 20 feet going against the rows, depending on the vigor of the crop and the plant spacing. Invariably, the rows are a bit crooked, so looking down the rows has limited range of vision too.

When you get inside the rows far enough, you have absolutely no visual cues as to where you are except for the sky and the direction of the rows. Its like walking around in a giant parking lot in the fog; you won't know where you are until you get to the edge again. If you have experience at it, or a keen sense of direction & distance: no problem. A two year old 100' inside the field, not paying attention: purely random which way they would go.

10 years ago, it would have been significantly easier to find a child as the rows were spaced much wider than they are today. In a field with say 36" spacing between rows, you could easily see 300 yards down a clean row if it was planted in a straight line. Today's 24-28" rows are a lot tighter and, in a good crop year like this one, the corn is tall and thick which means leaves at eye level for an adult easily obstruct one from seeing down rows unless you get down at a child's level and crawl through a field. However, at that level, you might not see far if the field has weeds in it as they often do this late in the year because spraying the weeds once the corn gets past hip height isn't so necessary as it is when the corn is just getting started.

The short of it is this - I'm going pheasant hunting this weekend (opening weekend) and none of the corn has been stripped yet for walking because it's been a cool wet summer and fall. The corn is tall and thick and going to be a real safe haven for the birds because it's going to be about impossible for walkers to get them to flush with all that cover - they'll just run right by you two rows over and you won't even see them under the weed cover.

Imagine that same scenario while looking for a 2' tall child who might be lying on the ground beneath some weeds to try to get some shelter from the rain and snow and cold and maybe you can start to get a picture of why it took so long to find her in a relatively small and seemingly easy area to search. The corn around here looks more like an 8' tall wheat field than a corn field...