Fire chief recounting over 30 years fighting fires and conducting search and rescues in Alaska

Thursday, September 14, 2006

from "Avalanche at the tunnel site"
A small slide was spotted coming down, air horns sounded, and the probers scattered. They returned, this time accompanied by Points North, and Plumb pulled everyone back out of the slide area who was not wearing avalanche beacons. Another large slide was spotted and the searchers retreated from the area. One CVFD member was stuck in the snow but was pulled free, and Gypsy got bogged down and had to be lifted out. She injured her hind legs permanently. This slide piled an additional 15 feet of snow on the previously search area. The toe of the new slide was now 20 feet from the excavator . Plumb moved the staging area further back down the road.