[ARRL-OK] More on Columbia

[Lloyd A Colston]

The safety officer for the event is on the Emergency Managers' list. 
Below the signature were additional comments to the list and Mr. Lewallen
from him.

Lloyd Colston             Mayes County Emergency Management
Pryor, OK USA           http://www.geocities.com/mccem
        Don't let Yesterday take up too much of Today.

On Thursday Feb 6, 2003 the weather turned extreme on searchers. All
those 
individuals in the field were soaked and I had treated 5 cases of 
hypothermia in less than an hour. I asked one of the radio operators in
the 
field to get in contact with the Incident Commander (located at one
location 
in Nacogdoches), and the Search Manager (located several miles from the
IC) 
so that I could call of the search. We were able to do this within 3
minutes 
of my field request. The searchers at that time were 25 to 35 miles from
the 
IC and Search Manager. Our Police Band radios were unable to link these 
folks up. IF NOT for the great relays and radio of these fine folks we
would 
have had more critical medical problems in the field. We were able to
call 
this search off, get our folks home and dried off for the day. I highly 
recommended that Radio operators be included in your EM listings.  From
that 
day forward one would be stationed with me while we were in the field.
When 
one of our horses threw its rider and a broken leg occurred we again used

YOUR radios and got the necessary help in the field.
They are truly professional and from a medical standpoint we owe them a 
round of applause. I know Bill Plunkett (Search Manager) and Sheriff
Thomas 
Kerss (IC for the Nacogdoches area) gave you all a "job well done".
Ed
 
Ed Kostiuk
Medical/Safety Officer
Shuttle Disaster Recovery Teams
Nacogdoches County Texas