]]> http://www.traviswilliams.net/the-scene-of-the-fall/feed/ 2 http://www.traviswilliams.net/whats-a-spot/ http://www.traviswilliams.net/whats-a-spot/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:01:17 +0000 Travis Williams http://www.traviswilliams.net/?p=1147 The SPOT is an amazing device that you want to buy but never want to use. My father-in-law recently had to use his and it saved his life. SPOT wrote about it in their latest newsletter.

A SPOT 911 Message and blinking LEDs Help Save Photographer

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It all started as professional photographer Ed Cooley was pursuing his passion looking for the perfect shots in remote areas of the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas when some unstable terrain sent him 30 feet down off the end of a bluff into a creek bed. What followed was a rescue for the ages. For an immediate account of the story, please see the Harrison (Arkansas) Daily. Click Read More below for a summary of the story and more links.

In extreme pain and miles from anywhere, Ed pressed his 9-1-1 button on his SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker around 2:30 PM on October 15, 2009 that initiated the rescue process with the International Emergency Rescue Coordination Center (IERCC). GEOS provides 911/SOS monitoring and emergency dispatch through the IERCC based in Houston, Texas. Due to the remoteness and terrain of the location, Search and Rescue from the Newton County Sheriff Department and other local agencies took hours to arrive to the location, badly damaged from previous winter ice storms. Video link on a news story follow-up available here. Due to where he fell, SAR couldn’t get a good lock on his position, but searchers found him by the green LEDs on the front of the SPOT unit flashing. At about 8:45 PM, members of the US Forest Service arrived on the scene. Ed was deemed severely injured and the crew waited for another crew to arrive with a backboard. Still, it was dozens of hours later that the team of many rescue professionals was able to hand carry Cooley to a sight where a helicopter could transport him.

Cooley’s injuries included a broken ankle, collarbone and pelvis.

We’re so glad that Ed used his SPOT in the proper way and the US Forest Service Echoed this sentiment: – Mark Morales, the U.S. Forest Service district fire management officer assigned to the Hector and Jasper offices commented on how prepared Cooley was for being in the wilderness:

“Ed was about as prepared as a person could hope to be,” he said. “He had that SPOT beacon, and not only had it, but used it properly. There’s no doubt in my mind that beacon saved his life. It took people almost seven hours to get in there, even with the beacon transmitting his location. We had the coordinates, and our people were using our GPS and were sending it to us, telling us where he was, and we were able to find him.” Morales said if Cooley had not had the emergency transponder, the story would have had a different ending, because the search probably would have had to be called off until daylight on Friday.

“With him in the water, there’s no doubt in my mind what the outcome would have been,” he said.

“The SPOT was a gift from my wonderful wife Faith. I will now have the rest of my life to thank her,” says Cooley.

SPOT extends a sincere thank you to all of the volunteers and professionals that did a superb job to rescue Ed Cooley.

Purchase SPOT Personal Tracker from Amazon

Arriving at the parking spot above Smith Cemetary close to Iceledo Gap about 1200 I made the walk down the very rough road.  The was another car at my parking spot and a SUV/crossover at the cemetary.  So TWO photographers are in here now.  Great -I will have some company I thought.  Then I head someone thrashing thru the brush and soon I meet Matt Middleton-another photographer.  He told me it was not too bad a journey until the last half-mile or so close to Twin Falls.  That was a bugger he said.  He also said the owner of the crossover was Ed Cooley-another photographer I know by exchanging comments on a message board.Ed was shooting Twin Falls and would be in there awhile yet.  I bid Matt a good day and I started to head through the thick brush and briars to find the old logging road I needed.  After 10 minutes I gave up ever trying to find the logging road.  It was now 1230 and I decided to change the plan.  I am not so strong and brave of an adventurer to continue on myself so I decided to switch  locations once again for the evening.  Lo and behold but I find ANOTHER photographer locking his car at the cemetary as I struggle out of the woods.

This time it is Glenn Wheeler.  I know Glen from his website(glennwheeler.com) and now I know him in person.  Glenn also planned to shoot Twin Falls and so we decide to try it together.  Glenn is experienced at backcountry travel and with two of us together we should be able to handle about anything.  did I mention that Glenn is an EMT and volunteer SAR who has extensive training?  He has participated in many extractions from the backcountry.  Little did we realize he was about to participate in another!

We could not find the logging road either but between the two of us and our GPS units we felt like we could get where we needed.  We also both carry the SPOT unit(findmespot.com).  This handy device will use GPS to find your position and report on your progress to a group of people whom you specify.  If will send text messages to cell phones and email also.  There are two other buttons on this device.  One is for Help…you need help but are not in danger.  The other is 911 and it sends a message to the Air Force who then gets in contact with the closest rescue squad to the reported position and starts a full-fledged rescue operation.  I had one of these since my adventure earlier this year getting lost going out of Compton’s Double Falls.  I needed just one person to get me out and he recommended this device highly and so I now have one.  This device would play a very important role for one the aforementioned photographers in the area.

Bushwhacking our way slowly and steadily to our objective we stopped about 3:30 and decided to abort the attempt today.  We were still at least 30 minutes from the falls and if we took only 30 minutes to shoot some images we would still be well after dark making our way out of this jungle.  We both had headlights and I also carried my trusty Surefire flashlight also light was not a problem.  But we were already tired starting to stumble a bit.  Within a short time Glenn found the logging road we had been searching for and even with the many lay-downs on it that had to be dodged our journey out was much quicker.  Within 30 minutes we were over halfway to our take-out spots.  Soon  we heard voices in front of us and soon coming our way is obviously a rescue squad carrying equipment including a spine board and a paramedic with a full  pre=”full “>medpak.  they noted out SPOTs and asked us if we had activated them.  We both checked ours for this and when we replied no the squad looked very disappointed.  I knew immediately it had to be Ed Cooley whom I also knew carried one of  the devices.

He had activated his device about 2 pm and his location was reported to be very close to Twin Falls.  Exactly where we had been going!  It was now about 4:30 pm.  Glenn and I sent the squad on ahead and we ran the last half mile out to our cars.  We switched out packs- Glenn donning a SARpak with high-angle extraction rope-pulley stuff and me putting on his large EMT medpak.  He has at least 4 more packs in his Jeep!  We head back down the trail and marked it with tape as we were going in as many more rescuers were on the way.  Over 35 to be exact!  About  6 pm we catch up with the first group and another group passes us.  Now ther are at least three separate groups looking for Ed and trying to make their way to the Twin Falls.  By 6:30 PM we have to activate our headlights and press on.  By 7:30 PM the rescue squads are losing battery power for their radios and the squad with the paramedic is out of contact with everyone else.  they were not in the initial or second group to make contact with Ed due to location/navigation issues.  By 7PM the Air Force has advised us that the beacon appeared to have moved in a circle close to its first reported activation but now has been in the same spot for over two hours.  Due to communication issues and exhaustion the rescue squad leader is mulling over calling off the search for the night and starting again early in the AM.  Just at that time over the radio another squad of Forest Service personnel reported that they think they are seeing the SPOT’s blinking green LEDs in the distance and in just a few minutes later they report finding Ed.

By now it is now after 8:30 pm.  I am stumbling over everything and the squad leader Phillip is in the same boat.  We elect to hike out as we could not help with extraction anyway.  I pass my medpak to another willing soul and Phillip and make our way out.  After 10:30 pm we stumble to Smith Cemetary where a large group of support personnel feed and water us.  We learn that Glenn has reached Ed and he has an open fracture of his lower leg and other undetermined injuries.  He fell from near the top of one of the falls when a piece of rock gave way beneath his feet. He is in good spirits and the extraction process will now start. We also learn that he was found partially in the water, the temperature of which is no warmer than 60 degrees F.  So good for him that he was found tonight.  Several more hours in the water and no telling what the result might have been.  I wondered how they would get him out as there is no good close spot within half  a mile of these falls that a helicopter could land.  And to carry him out once he is extracted from the falls/bluffs will be tough as there is very few places even on the logging road that a group of people could carry another out without running into a tree every two feet or so.

I get back to my truck and start down to Russellville where I plan to spend the night in a soft bed.  And then onto home in the morning. I called my wife Susan and reported the events to her as there is hardly ever any cell phone service in that area of the Ozark National Forest and Richland Creek Wilderness.

The next morning I learn that Ed was not airlifted out until almost 10AM.  He was undergoing surgery that afternoon with other surgeries anticipated in the near future.

What a few days in the wilderness!  I got a a newfound appreciation for the thousands of volunteer SAR people over all the United States and certainly the ones in NW Arkansas.  Spending their own money for training and equipment-not to mention gasoline!  they can not be appreciated more.  I can only hope if I am ever injuring in the backcountry I get the opportunity to have dedicated folks like these trying to help me.  That day was one of the hardest physically I have every endured and I can not imagine how those that stayed did it.

First of all, our family would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support through this difficult matter.

My father-in-law is a nature photographer that has traveled all over the United States and was currently working on a series of Arkansas’ beauty. He left his home in Rogers at about 3am Thursday to go to photograph Twin Falls in a remote area of the Ozark National Forest. The falls are located about about 3 miles from where he parked but the terrain is very rugged and it took him 2.5 hours to hike in.

Shortly after arriving at the falls he was standing on a bluff at the top of the falls scouting the location and a way to hike around to where he would take some pictures. The ground was very wet from all of the recent rain and the bluff crumbled below him causing him to fall 30ft to the creek below. This was around 2pm.

He often hikes out to these photo shoots alone and recently invested in a SPOT GPS messenger to carry with him for emergency. This device has three options for messages: OK (everything is alright), Help (need assistance but I am OK) and 911 (need assistance and I am injured). Around 230 he pressed the 911 button which sent out a distress signal to the Air Force who then contacted the proper authorities in the area.

It was around 330-400 before the search and rescue were able to assemble and head into the woods. The terrain was very rugged, which made it a very difficult task to find Ed even though they had his GPS coordinates. There were initially three separate groups sent in to search for Ed but one of them got lost and lost radio contact with everyone else so they had to hike out and regroup.

The first group finally made contact with Ed at about 840pm. At this point he has been laying in the creek for 7hrs and the temperature dropped quickly when the sun went down. This group did not have a backboard so all they could do was get him out of the water and warm him up with a campfire while they waited for a group with a board.

Around 10pm they had him on a board and were ready to begin the trek out of the forest. There was a road about 1.7 miles away so they went that way but could not get up the bluffs and hills. At about 245am they decided to turn around and head out the way they came in, which was now almost 4 miles.

They finally made their way out at about 930am and took Ed to the helicopter to fly him to Washington Regional in Fayetteville.

He is in very good spirits and is in a pretty good bit of pain but is thankful to be alive. His injuries were a broken collarbone, shattered ankle and an open book pelvic fracture. He had a surgery at Washington Regional Friday afternoon to clean out his leg to reduce the risk of infection. They cut off the part of the bone that was sticking out and put an external fixator on his leg to hold it in place.

He spent Saturday in Fayetteville visiting with friends and family for most of the day. This was a huge encouragement for all of us. He was transported to St Francis in Tulsa on Sunday afternoon where he will see a trauma specialist. His wife Faith and daughter Lizzy are there with him. Lizzy is my wife and is currently pregnant with Ed’s third grandchild. The third grandbaby should really boost his spirits even more in the next month.
As of right now he is scheduled to have his pelvic fracture repaired at 230 Tuesday and they will repair his ankle on Wednesday or Thursday. Everything is going very well considering the accident. He should be back in Northwest Arkansas next week to begin the recovery process.

I have setup and email address for anyone who would like to send a message to Ed. I will get these and take them to Ed later this week. The address is ed@traviswilliams.net.

Ed has a twitter account and blog but I am not sure when he will be posting. I know he posted a tweet last night.
http://twitter.com/edcooley
http://www.whiterivergallery.com/blog

Photo Credit: Mike Hall

-s&r with fathinlaw. prelim is broke ankle. dislocated hip. bruised collarbone. will take few hours to get out. please pray. havent seen him.

-815 – made it to search and rescue base 1.5 hours from harrison.

-840 – search and rescue makes initial contact with @edcooley

-850 – initial diagnosis is broken ankle, dislocated hip and bruised collarbone.

-1235 – search and rescue radios that they are on their way out. 1.7 miles. very cold, windy and dark. lots of moisture in the air.

-245am – ed has been laying in the ozark national forest 12 hrs. s&r havin trbl with terrain in the dark. trying another route. prob daylight

-Lizzy’s dad went to the Ozark National Forest this morning to take pictures. At approx. 230pm we received a distress signal from his GPS unit. Search and rescue was dispatched and it took the several hours to get together and find him. He was located around 840pm at the bottom of a bluff.

-It appears that he has a broken ankle, dislocated hip and a bruised collarbone. It is now almost 3am and they still haven’t gotten him out. there are approx. 30-40 search and rescue guys with him but the terrain is very rugged, it is cold, windy and pitch black out here. They are trying a second route out but it will probably be daylight before they get him out.

Please pray for Ed and our family. Jeremiah and Shawn are here with me while Lizzy and Jackson are at home. Jaclyn stayed with them for a while earlier.

-ed is hurt pretty badly. he fell at 2pm yesterday and was out at 9am today. flown to washington regional.

-this is the @spot_messenger that saved @edcooley yesterday. we are very thankful for this device. http://twitpic.com/lrc2q

-Ed was standing on a 30ft bluff when the ground crumbled and he fell in a creek below. He severely broke his ankle, collarbone and an open book pelvic fracture. They are cleaning out his ankle at Washington Regional tonight and will transfer him to T…ulsa on Sunday. They will do surgery to repair his ankle and pelvis sometime Monday. Lizzy said he will be in ICU. I am not sure what the visitor situation will be.

Thank you for all of the prayers. We are very grateful.

-ed is resting as comfortably as can be expected. i am sleeping tonight. exhausted from the search and rescue stuff last night. peace.

-thanks everyone for the prayers. now that ed has been found and taken to the hospital we need prayer for recovery. he is doing well considering but has a long road of recovery ahead. i have read all of the messages but there are simply too many to respond to.

-sitting at the hospital with ed. he is resting comfortably. really like his morphine button.

-Ed is resting comfortably tonight. We all had a good day at the hospital. A surgeon at Washington Regional went in and cleaned out his ankle. He cut off the part of the bone that was sticking out through the skin and made sure there was no foreign matter inside. This is to reduce the risk of infection. Everything looks very good right now.

-Ed will be transported via ambulance to St Francis in Tulsa sometime Sunday. They will perform surgery on his pelvis Monday. Hopefully they will also fix his ankle at this time.

-he really enjoyed having all of the visitors today. We are all very thankful for the thought and prayers.

Click here if you would like to see the Twin Falls where Ed fell. He was standing on top of the ridge with the falls scouting where he wanted to hike down and take his pictures. If you would like to see some of Ed’s work, you can go to White River Gallery.