Rescuers search for funding

GRANT COUNTY — Most residents of Grant County don't think about Marv Maslen's volunteers every day; their help is the kind most hope they never have to receive.

But now, the team leader for the Grant County Sheriff's Search and Rescue finds his unit needs some help of its own, and is looking for $1 from each of the residents it serves to replace its two out-of-date vehicles.

"We're just trying to make people aware that we're in a critical need for a new vehicle as soon as possible," Maslen said. The two dozen members of Search and Rescue currently use two vehicles, the newest a 21-year-old Ford Explorer, and the other a 1973 Chevrolet van which Maslen said is not economically feasible to keep on the road.

Search and Rescue crews were unable to use either vehicle last week during a rescue response, instead relying on Moses Lake Fire Department equipment.

Moses Lake resident Mike McCurry, 39, died at a Wenatchee hospital on Feb. 27 following a fall through the ice into Moses Lake after traveling more than 400 feet from shore to rescue a dog. Two Moses Lake firefighters went out to recover McCurry, but frozen and frigid waters made rescue attempts slow and exhaustive.

Search and Rescue team members had a fast response time, but thick ice slowed rescue crews using a fire department rescue boat. They were unable to access some of their own equipment which was in their vehicles, both down for repairs at the time of the call.

Maslen said rescuers did all they could given the circumstances, and said they were lucky they didn't lose two firefighters that day.

"We're to the point that we need to have a new vehicle to make sure that we can get there," Maslen said.

One of the solutions the group has proposed is to ask of the residents of Grant County to contribute $1 per resident to fund vehicles for the Search and Rescue program. Maslen would prefer two vehicles, but admits they have a critical need for any vehicle at this time.

Based on the unit's prior history, Maslen expects a new vehicle would last the unit at least 20 years. Maslen said the current vehicles need replacing in order to fend off this continuing maintenance, and to keep unit equipment transported in those vehicles available for use in an emergency situation.

Search and Rescue averages 24 missions each year, and members spend the bulk of their time training for those type of missions. When they do go out on rescue and recovery missions, Maslen said it is not only locals they are rescuing, but tourists who come to recreate in Grant County.

The population of Grant County is under 80,000 but Search and Rescue volunteers also serve visitors, and Grant County Sheriff's Chief Deputy John Turley said Grant County swells to more than 200,000 inhabitants in the summer months.

Turley is the sheriff's office coordinator for Search and Rescue, and said the sheriff's office has always tried to find money for the unit, but conceded it has always struggled to budget it. Turley said to his knowledge there has never been a line item specifically for Search and Rescue in the sheriff's office budget.

"It's always been a command effort to keep the Search and Rescue, no pun intended, afloat," Turley said.

The volunteer unit gets a limited amount of money from the sheriff's office budget, mostly for vehicle maintenance and training. The bulk of its equipment has been financed through donations and through fund-raising efforts of the community. But Maslen said the unit is now facing a critical need for vehicles.

Turley noted the unit has also volunteered at various events throughout Grant County each year. Turley noted Maslen himself has given more than 600 hours of volunteer time to the unit per year over its 21-year span.

"Yeah, there needs to be some replacement of vehicles," Turley said. "They should have at least two good vehicles."

In Grant County, Maslen said 70 percent of the unit's calls are related to the water, like when vehicles plummet into the lake or river, and the unit is often called in after the fact to recover rather than act as rescuers. The unit has had a hovercraft and jet ski donated to it, but needs its vehicles as a means of transportation for those and other equipment utilized by Search and Rescue team members.

A number of the unit's calls are dive calls, and each member has to be a certified diver. Besides diving, the training Search and Rescue team members receive is constantly being updated, Maslen said.

"We don't put anybody out there to do a rescue that isn't trained to do it," Maslen said.

In the long run, Maslen said the unit is looking for some sort of operational budget from the county that will allow them to maintain equipment and to replace the worn out equipment they can no longer use, as well as provide provisions for the unit's continued training and other expenses.

Grant County Commission Chair Richard Stevens has not yet heard from members of the unit, but said he would be open to listening and talking to them about their funding issues.

Maslen is asking donations be made to an account at Horizon Credit Union, to Grant County Search and Rescue, c/o Horizon Credit Union. For more information on the account, contact Maslen at (509) 764-4148, (509) 765-8277 or sarguy901@yahoo.com.