Search and Rescue Saves Man Over Christmas, Gives Advice on How to Survive
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
HOUSTON COUNTY – The Messenger has reported recently on the activities of Houston County Search and Rescue (SAR) which has been able to gather together a large team of well-trained members and with the help of local citizens and governments, the tools and support to finish 2023 with a 15-0 record on recovering missing people.
SAR is not only involved in training “in-house,” but gets called to nearby organizations when they need specialized training or help starting their own SAR groups. With thousands of acres of both forest, water features and changes in elevation, Houston County can be an easy place to get lost, even when you grew up here and are familiar with traipsing through those woods.
In a world where few take their smartphones down from their faces, most tourists assume they can just call for help if they become lost or deal with an incident deep in the Piney Woods. As most locals will tell you from hunting and fishing trips, or just dropping calls on long drives, there are huge areas of the county where that cell phone will become an un-useable paper weight as you try to navigate back to civilization.
So it turned out for one man from Angelina County in his late 50’s, who despite growing up in Houston County, found the landscape had changed a lot over the years and found himself lost during a pre-Christmas hunting trip through the woods.
Houston County SAR’s Gene Kellum took time to speak with The Messenger about everything that went right – and wrong – during the search and rescue operation which would eventually find the man and send him home, albeit after a three-day holiday search.
Kellum’s group was notified of the missing man Christmas Eve, although he felt they got called in late, as the man’s family had spent a day searching for him themselves, after not being able to get in contact with him. While the man was an experienced hunter and was able to make fires to keep warm at night, he made a crucial mistake which lengthened the search time and could have cost him his life.
SAR was able to track his campsites, but the man moved every day, trying to make his own way back to civilization. Wrong, said Kellum, when you are lost in 10,000 acres of dense woods, the first way to be found is to stay put, so rescuers can locate you.
Although the man did have several tools to help him, not planning to be in the woods so long, he was without some of the basic “just in case” items, such as food, water and a working compass. The compass which comes standard on most smart phones relies on GPS and mobile signals to calculate the cardinal directions – fine in the city – but no help miles from a cell phone tower.
SAR was able to call on the county’s game wardens, along with Houston County Sheriff’s Department, EMS, Trinity County, along with several local agencies, all taking time over the Christmas holiday to help find the man before he succumbed to the rigors of the dense forest.
It was a new tool from Crockett Police Department (CPD) which was one of the biggest assets this time – their new drone, equipped with cameras (including night and thermal vision) and the ability to speak to someone lost via its integrated loudspeaker. The drone allows SAR and other agencies a rapid way to search large areas without having to call in help from other cities.
The man was eventually located Tuesday and although hungry and dehydrated, was checked out by EMS and was otherwise fine and eventually able to get home, a little late for Christmas. The man had simply gotten deeper into the trees and got confused and turned around. Ironically, his well-intentioned efforts to find a home, roadway, town – anything – actually hindered efforts to find him.
“Let someone know where you’re going,” Kellum advised. “You never know what can happen, from getting lost to falling to any of the dangerous snakes in those woods, so be prepared for the worst. What if you have to spend a night before you are rescued? Take a compass, flashlight, raincoat and extra food and water. Then, find a safe place and stay put!”
Kellum always advises wearing snake boots, even in summer when they can be hot and uncomfortable, as with a snake bite, a delay in finding you can certainly turn deadly.
SAR is planning more training classes in the county, according the Kellum, especially in the schools, to make sure our younger generations know what to do and what not to do, as they make their way deeper into the wider world.
While SAR cannot survive without help from the county commissioners, donations from citizens and groups like the Amateur Radio Club, the group caught flak online after politely declining offers from residents to assist them in the most recent search.
Kellum said while they appreciate the enthusiasm, he worries a wider effort from untrained people – no matter how good their intentions – might complicate the search. Already comprising almost three dozen trained members, SAR had many others involved, backing them up and providing everything from traffic control to real-time intel.
When using tools like thermal cameras, searchers won’t know if they are tracking the missing person or someone trying to help. With such a dense and immense area, there is also a risk of some of the searchers becoming lost, too, exponentially complicating an already dangerous situation.
“They say it takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a community to save a person,” Kellum noted. “With all the trained staff and agencies, we really do have that community and we feel confident we can get people to safety, quickly, without endangering more residents.”
With a flawless track record of rescues, SAR has indeed proven that to be the case.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
