A ? for MRS guys

[darwined]

The recent accident has me wondering how rescues are conducted? Is there a clear set of standards for involving MRS?  Is there a leader? Is it the same leader for each rescue? Do the MRS guys bring personal climbing gear to use on the rescues?  Once the rescue is out of technical terrain do the government guys "take it from here" ?  Are MRS W-EMT or WFR?  Are rescues conducted in a different manner if the weather is bad?

Thank you to those who are willing to shed some light.  Hopefully MRS is different than fight club

[DLottmann]

Not an official spokesperson for MRS, but I’ll try to shed a little light:

Is there a clear set of standards for involving MRS?

Generally speaking NH Fish & Game requests MRS assistance if the rescue involves high angle components or extreme weather above tree-line.

Is there a leader? Is it the same leader for each rescue?

The “leader” or incident commander is typically the ranking NH Fish & Game officer or USFS (winter on east side of Washington). There are “Team Leaders” within MRS, but since it is a volunteer organization who is the leader is entirely based on who responds and who gets there first...

Do the MRS guys bring personal climbing gear to use on the rescues?

MRS maintains a lot of gear purchased through donations, and stored at IME. Rescuers still use personal gear, but we are suplemented with gear you would not normally own as a recreational climber/guide (litter’s, long static ropes, rigging, etc). This time of year most of us keep a pack ready to go for when a call comes in, but Team Leaders will stop by IME to grab additional gear based on the scenario.

Once the rescue is out of technical terrain do the government guys "take it from here” ?

It’s a conjoined team effort until the patient is handed off to the ambulance. The relationship between MRS and state/federal agencies is of respect and focused on the mission.

Are MRS W-EMT or WFR?

WFR is minimum, with some EMT's on the teams...

Are rescues conducted in a different manner if the weather is bad?

Not sure what you are asking. Rescuer safety is always first, like any emergency response team. But we are good at suffering and keeping each other safe

For more info on MRS (or to donate) please go here: http://www.nhmrs.org/

[lucky luke]

Thank you to those who are willing to shed some light.  Hopefully MRS is different than fight club

If you can't know how to manage a self rescue for your party...don't go outside the bond of avy post.

If you know how to, MRS do the same.

Promote the knowledge instead of asking how you can do a legal suit against MRS in case you are trap because you risk too much

[sneoh]

If you can't know how to manage a self rescue for your party...don't go outside the bo(u)nd of avy post.
If you know how to, MRS do the same.

Not always possible, LL.  As DMan wrote, some of the equipment needed for a timely evac of victim to an ambulance is just not what we bring along for a climbing outing.
I have been directly involved with three rescues.
First one, nasty tib-fib fracture at Sommersville Lake, WV.  Victim was in extreme pain and showing signs of going into shock.  We did not have morphine with us.  Sure, there were enough of us to get him out by land, up two sets of ladders, but that would have taken a long time.  Instead, someone had the brilliant idea of flagging down a boat on the Lake, getting the victim into it (with great difficulty I must say), and driving him to the boat launch where an ambulance was waiting.  I think it took us an hour to 1.15hr which is not bad.
Second one was a broken ankle at a roadside crag and we self evacuated and drove the victim to the ER ourselves.
Third one was a rap accident.  It looked really dire.  Victim said he might have neck injury (later confirmed - two vertebrae with minor fracture).  We did not have a back board with us or one easily accessible.  So we called for help from deep within the PMRP in RRG.  The volunteer rescue people came with a back board and we moved the victim several hundred yards to a waiting, monster 4x4 truck which the kind of vehicle you want to get up those slick, steep KY dirt roads cut for moving drill rigs.  It was an agonizingly slow ride up and down on some really rutted dirt roads (~1.25 miles) to an ambulance and then from there a 10-minute drive to a helipad for a med flight to University of Kentucky Medical Center.  The volunteer people were almost all very competent and helpful, mostly climbers, and many came still wearing harnesses, chalk bag, and tape on their fingers; cutting short their day at the crag to help a fellow climber. 

[darwined]

Thank you to those who are willing to shed some light.  Hopefully MRS is different than fight club

If you can't know how to manage a self rescue for your party...don't go outside the bond of avy post.



Promote the knowledge instead of asking how you can do a legal suit against MRS in case you are trap because you risk too much

I'm just curious which part of my post lead you to believe (a) I don't know how to self-rescue and (b) I might be preparing for a lawsuit against MRS?

Seriously how are my post and yours related AT ALL?

[JBro]

If you can't know how to manage a self rescue for your party...don't go outside the bond of avy post.

If you know how to, MRS do the same.

Promote the knowledge instead of asking how you can do a legal suit against MRS in case you are trap because you risk too much

[lucky luke]

If you can't know how to manage a self rescue for your party...don't go outside the bond of avy post.



Promote the knowledge instead of asking how you can do a legal suit against MRS in case you are trap because you risk too much

The real text is:

If you can't know how to manage a self rescue for your party...don't go outside the bond of avy post.

If you know how to, MRS do the same.

Sneoh gave example of the variability and adaptability of people in a rescue. Futermore, people will always help some one else because it is in human nature to do it, if there is no monetary interest.

Because you want to know a set of standard rules for an accident, and the two possibility: knowing what is self rescue and not knowing it... I think that... 

[old_school]

Right on the money DMan