For our April training, KISAR partnered with the USCG Air Station Kodiak to perform a SAR response to a mock bear mauling incident. The scenario was that an individual had been mauled by a bear on the South End trails of Near Island, rendering the subject immobile and unresponsive. KISAR performed a line-abreast visual sweep search until the subject was located, and then developed a patient assessment, treatment, packaging, and evacuation plan. After moving the patient to the south end of Near Island, KISAR members practiced vectoring the responding USCG helicopter to the scene followed by a series of litter hoists.

KISAR would like to thank the Kodiak Air Station for helping us make this training possible and increase the understanding of the capabilities of the two agencies. We would especially like to thank LT Catherine Cantu, H-60 pilot and KISAR ex officio board member, for helping plan and coordinate the event. The H-60 crew participating in the training were Pilot in Command LT Kyle Jackson, Copilot LCDR Ian Erickson, Flight Mechanic Johnny Vo, and Rescue Swimmer Gabe Davila. KISAR is incredibly grateful for their time and expertise in making the training successful.

This link will take you to a 5-minute video of the training on Philip’s Vimeo channel.

Just as we were starting the search portion of the training, Don Zimmerman came down the trail. He was mauled by a bear on Pillar Mountain in 2020, and in this image Philip is pointing across the channel to the location on Pillar.

We used an eggplant as a proxy for a human limb for the wound-cleaning portion of the training. It seemed to work pretty well.

This map shows most of the searchers’ tracks until we located the subject near the tip of the peninsula. The helicopter hoist location is shown near the tip of the island.

The rescue subject with puncture wounds bound and an unstable lower limb injury splinted and ready to be moved.

We used a rescue dummy for the litter hoist training portion.