DEC Forest Rangers - Week in Review

Town of Keene
Essex County
Wilderness Search: On Oct. 14 at 9:30 p.m., Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a concerned mother who stated her daughter was overdue from hiking Mount Marcy and may not have a light source. Forest Rangers Foutch, Rooney, and Snye responded. At 1:30 a.m., Rangers located the 18-year-old's vehicle at the Mount Van Hoevenberg Complex and then searched the trails from the trailhead and the Adirondak Loj to Marcy Dam. At 6 a.m., Ranger Rooney located the hiker from Potsdam on the Van Ho Mountain trail in good health but without an operational light source. Ranger Rooney escorted the hiker out of the woods and to their vehicle.

Town of Vestal
Broome County
Wilderness Search: On Oct. 15 at 11:58 a.m., Forest Rangers Chappell, Dormer, Petit, and Roberts responded to a Vestal Police search for a missing 86-year-old last seen at 4 p.m. the previous afternoon. The subject was known to go for walks on Tracy Creek Road. Vestal Police used a drone with heat detection capability and deployed a K9 unit with negative results. Rangers assigned linear searches of the roads and Tracy Creek. At 4:15 p.m., a neighbor found the subject behind his house calling for help. The 86-year-old fell in a bush, hurt their back, and saw the lights from searchers, but wasn't strong enough to get up or yell loudly enough for them to hear. Rangers and Vestal Fire Department members carried the subject to an ambulance. Resources were clear at 4:40 p.m.

Town of Newfield
Tompkins County
Wilderness Recovery: On Oct. 15 at 1:40 p.m., Schuyler County requested Forest Ranger assistance with the search for a missing 36-year-old from Alpine last seen two days earlier. A friend located the subject's car in a parking area on Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area (WMA). Rangers joined the Schuyler County Sheriff's Office, Tompkins County Sheriff's Office, Amigo Search and Rescue, and 40 volunteers from eight fire departments in the search. Linear searches, drones, and K9 units produced negative results. On Oct. 17 at 1:10 p.m., search crews located the subject deceased in the WMA's woods. Rangers turned over the subject to the Tompkins County Coroner's office and the incident to the Tompkins County Sherrif's Department.

Town of Lisbon
Otsego County
Wilderness Recovery: On Oct. 16 at 10:48 p.m., Otsego County requested Forest Ranger assistance in the search for a hunter reported missing by his spouse. The Otsego County Sheriff's Office, Otsego County Emergency Services, Garratsville Fire Department, Laurens Fire Department, New York State Police, and New York State Park Police and staff all joined the search efforts in Gilbert Lake State Park. Rangers assigned search areas. At 3:34 a.m., Otsego County Sheriff's Deputy Thornhill's team located the 67-year-old from Remsen deceased in a tree stand. Rangers used a rope system to help extricate the subject and turned them over to the county coroner.

Town of Lyons
Wayne County
Training: On Oct. 16 and 18, Forest Rangers Dormer, Miller, and Raffaldi-Smith instructed the Basic Wildland Fire Suppression Course at the Wayne County Emergency Management Building. They taught 18 firefighters about the basics of fire behavior, wildland firefighting tactics, and the tools used in fire suppression.