As August winds down in the Flathead Valley, a slew of late-summer incidents that have so far included plane crashes, car fires, wildfires, falls and drownings are continuing to keep emergency personnel on their toes.
The Pot Mountain Fire on Monday was detected deep in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, prompting the closure of several trails near the Spotted Bear River headwaters. A pedestrian was killed last night after he was run over by a driver in Kalispell. Search and rescue teams yesterday recovered the body of a Washington man who a witness says jumped off a boat into Flathead Lake last weekend and never resurfaced. Two days ago, one person died in a car fire at a north Kalispell hotel.
In the last month, there have been three small plane crashes, two of which occurred at Ryan Field, a recreational air strip near West Glacier and ended in fatalities. Last week, a small plane crashed on the Kalispell City Airport runway, igniting a fire after crashing into several parked aircraft. No fatalities occurred, but the fiery collision briefly made nationwide headlines in the aftermath.
Two Bear Air, too, has kept busy this summer, responding to cliffed-out climbers in Glacier National Park and injured hikers in the Jewel Basin and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Last month, rescue teams assisted park rangers and ALERT helicopter in the recovery of a Utah man who fell to his death while descending a steep, off-trail climbing route on the west face of Mount Gould (pictured below) in Glacier.
Incidents like this require multiagency support from law enforcement and emergency responders along with organizations like Flathead County Search and Rescue and North Valley Search and Rescue (NVSAR), which are comprised entirely of volunteers.
NVSAR was recently awarded $11,340 as part of the Flathead Electric Cooperative Roundup for Safety. The funds will be used towards the purchase of new dry suits for its swift water rescue technicians, according to a news release.
Founded in 1970, NVSAR volunteers donate roughly 2,200 collective hours toward search and rescue missions annually along with 4,000 hours of training. A portion of these missions and trainings include many hours spent on 114 miles of the Flathead River system and the organization has 15 certified swift water technicians.
I’m Maggie Dresser, here with this public safety message in today’s Daily Roundup.
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