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Forester, Corrections officers team up in snow rescue
Forester Kelly Foster spotted a blue Toyota 4Runner off a side road in the Tillamook State Forest Monday afternoon and began collecting information to file an abandoned auto report. When a young woman holding an infant suddenly stepped out of the snow-covered vehicle, the routine stop became a rescue.
"She waved at me and said, 'Thank God you're here,'" Foster said.
Michelle Mackaben, Cornelius, and boyfriend German Cruz, Hillsboro, had good reason to be thankful. They had been stuck since Sunday in freezing temperatures with no blankets, food or water. And it was a nine-mile walk through a foot-and-a-half of snow just to get back to the summit of Highway 6, the nearest main travel route.
"It was definitely an emergency situation," he said. "They had gone up to see the snow Sunday but carried no chains, no shovel or map. And they left the lights on in the morning while making an attempt to hike out, so the battery went dead, leaving them unable to run the engine to keep warm."
Foster radioed the Oregon Department of Forestry office in Forest Grove about the situation, and Gordon Dana, manager of the South Fork Forest Camp, joined the conversation. He advised Foster to transport the stranded couple and baby to the inmate work facility located about six miles away. Once there, Oregon Department of Corrections staff provided them food and hot beverages as they awaited the arrival of a tow truck to recover their SUV.
Camp Commander Jeff Boyer said the rescue was not totally out of the ordinary for the remote work camp co-managed by the departments of Corrections and Forestry.
"These situations occur maybe three or four times a year--lost people, motorcycle and ATV accidents are typical incidents," Boyer said. "We are just happy to be able to assist folks when these emergency situations occur."
While the story had a happy ending, it could easily have ended in tragedy. Foster was in the woods that day checking the snow depth to see if he could continue work that needed to be done on a designated off-highway vehicle trail. The snow was too deep to finish the work, so he decided to drive a stretch of road that he wouldn't ordinarily have taken.
"Given the reports and evidence of a lot of weekend activity, I decided to patrol a small loop along Saddle Mountain Ridge," he said, "and at the junction of 7-Cedars and C-Line roads, I discovered the stranded vehicle."
Foster said recreationists use the area heavily on weekends this time of year, but few, if any, visit early in the week. Mackaben and Cruz could have gone unnoticed for two or three more days, he said.
At the time of the rescue, the young mother told Foster her baby had begun shivering. With no way to warm the child, she was starting to panic.
The forester reminded wintertime visitors to the Tillamook State Forest and other remote areas to take basic precautions. These include notifying family and friends of their destination and packing tire chains, a shovel, extra blankets and food and water.
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