The winter of '96 was a strange one. We got a little snow around Halloween, and then it got warm. It stayed in the fifties for weeks. The payback started after Christmas. We got a little snow, dug out, and then the whole sky dumped on us.

Training camp in the snow.

PHOTO: 17K .jpg

That's when this story began. When the Sheriff's department is short-handed they don't call the National Guard. They don't call the state police. They call on us, a bunch of kids. We're ESAR, Explorer Search and Rescue Post 330. In the summertime we do medical and security for parades and bike races. In the fall we find lost hunters and hikers. And this winter, after the big snow fell in the Palouse, we patrolled the roads for slide-offs and stranded motorists.

On our first night out, communications seemed to be down. The radio repeater on Moscow Mountain was on the fritz. We ended up hitting the road in two groups, looking for possible accidents and checking road conditions. Our repeater came alive about fifteen minutes into the operation. Alive, but not well - it wasn't transmitting perfectly, so we couldn't trust it. It was good enough, though, to dispatch us to a slide-off near the Juliaetta cut-off.

When we got there, we found the road empty. A Good Samaritan must have helped the motorist before we arrived. We decided to trudge onward. The only real action that night was a county grader which had slid off the road about five miles east of Genesee. We checked if the driver was alright, and asked him if he wanted us to notify someone for help. But he had already called for another grader to pull him out. There was no traffic hazard because he was completely off the road, so we cleared that scene and kept driving. The night ended at about 11:30 with my team in the Bovill area. Home and bed looked good.

Friday morning was interesting. We got a call at about 5:30 a.m. to have a traffic control/medic team on standby for that morning. Almost every deputy in the county was working security for a courthouse trial, which left only one deputy available for slide-offs and other emergencies. It was a slow morning, and we were able to go home or to work, though we were still on standby.

Saturday about 4:30 in the afternoon we got a call to put traffic control and medical teams together on two hour shifts for the Sheriff's office. Saturday night was one of the worst nights for driving ever, with blowing and drifting snow creating white-out conditions. The 30 mph winds caused severe drifting and deadly wind-chill for unprepared stranded motorists.

This is where our training comes in handy. We are taught how to survive under all conditions, especially in the winter. Most of our training and equipment is directed toward rescue situations - how to keep both the rescuer and rescuee safe under all circumstances. We have available a van stocked with basic life-support gear, most donated by Gritman Memorial Hospital and the community. Our individual back packs are equipped with 48 hours of survival gear. We have traffic vests and lights and emergency traffic cones. We have two hand-held radios for 38 people (hint: this is where we could use some help - they're expensive!)

Two feet of snow can totally cover a car.

PHOTO: 17K .jpg Monica Ray

The real fun started at about 9:00. At 9:10 we got a call from the Sheriff's office asking us to help close Highway 95 near foothill road. We proceeded to the area. Driving conditions were horrible. The roads were almost impassable - in fact we beat the Deputy car to the area because they were swamped with calls. We were having the time of our lives. We were finally getting to put our training to use. We called the Sheriff's office to find out what had happened to the deputy who was supposed to meet us. It turned out that the transportation department had decided not to close the road yet. They told us to go back home and wait for the next call.

On our way back to town, some gentleman had decided to just park his car in the middle of the highway. This caused a line of twenty cars to stop behind him in about zero visibility conditions. Needless to say, the situation looked dangerous. We informed the gentleman that he couldn't park his car in the middle of the highway. He was skeptical until we told him that we were working with the Latah County Sheriff's Office. This finally convinced him. We helped to push his car off onto a side road and after making sure that he was out of harm's way and not stuck, we proceeded back into town.

Pulling off the road takes on a whole new meaning.

PHOTO: Monica Ray

About half an hour later we were contacted again. We were called to a three-car accident on Highway 95 near Viola. We had the Sheriff's office notify a second team to respond as well. They advised us that there would be a deputy on-scene, and that we were to close the road and check the conditions of the motorists. So we went back out (exciting!) to find that about three miles out of Moscow there was, not an accident, but a car stuck on the highway, with two cars which had stopped to help. This was really a three car "stoppage", and there were two deputies on the scene already. So we got out our shovels and helped dig out the car. Along with the deputies, we then pushed the car back onto the road. They did later officially close the road much closer to town than they had originally planned.

We headed back to town again. We stopped to call the Sheriff's Office. A deputy stopped nearby and told us that we were to relieve Moscow PD at the road block. We were briefly issued a Latah County Sheriff's Deputy car to use during the duration, which was a first. They told us to "have fun", which we definitely did.

After being relieved, we returned to the Sheriff's office to wait for further calls. They brought cookies and chips and drink up from the jail to us. It's amazing how you feel when you're working with professionals. The shift commander, Tom Pollock, has known me for about a year. He appreciates what we do and shows it. Even though we're just a bunch of kids, he treats us as part of his team.

We left at about 1:00 a.m.

The two feet of snow we currently have on the ground is depressing for a lot of people. It causes delays and exasperation. Looking back on the happenings of the week, it looks like we didn't do anything really significant. We had a little fun, helped to stretch the Sheriff's manpower during a period of need, and helped a few motorists. Nothing much. But for us it is exciting. It means a break from normal, everyday life. It can be simply a chance to help, or it can quickly turn into a full-blown adrenaline-pumping adventure. We never know which it will be.

Inquiries can be sent to Captain James Grinolds, PULLMANLOCK@turbonet.com