Two Successful Rescue Missions for NCSO and NCSSAR This Week
March 7, 2024 - Nevada County Sheriff's Office officials report that on Tuesday, March 5, they were alerted at 4:27 p.m. of a snowmobiler who became stuck on a trail. The 36-year-old man from Incline Village, NV headed out around 2:00 p.m. via Johnson Canyon at the Donner Lake Interchange in Truckee to utilize the Warren Lake Trail. His 911 call indicated his cell phone battery was at 36% and he was cold. The man packed a backup cell phone battery in the event of emergency, which was helpful in ensuring connectivity with 911, in addition to a blanket and water.
In an allied response, our Nevada County Sheriff's Search & Rescue team and Placer County Sheriff's Office Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue Team Inc team responded to search for the man. Tahoe Nordic had already been deployed twice earlier that day for other successful rescues in Placer County. With two rescue teams of 26 people on the way, comprised of ski teams, sled teams, and Sno-Cats, we successfully located the man just before 8:00 p.m.
Photo credit: Nevada County Sheriff's Search & Rescue
We appreciate our partners, our dedicated volunteers, and all involved for helping this man back to safety and warmth!
Over the weekend, we responded to another rescue mission. On March 3, a 45-year-old man of Colfax called 911, stating he, his girlfriend and their small dog had been trapped in their truck for two days in the snowstorm and were stuck without food or water and no cell phone service.
They had reportedly been out 4-wheeling in rural Nevada City when their front differential broke, which disabled their 4-wheel drive. The man reportedly hiked until he found cell phone service and his first call to 911 came in at 8:34 a.m. on March 3. Despite the call dropping more than once, our Nevada County Dispatch Center was able to track his exact coordinates by cell phone, putting him in the vicinity of Lowell Road.
The Sheriff’s Office activated its Nevada County Sheriff's Search & Rescue team, sending out a team via Sno-Cat and side by side. Another member of our SAR team, who works for Nevada Irrigation District (NID), just happened to be finishing NID-related work in the Bowman Lake area in their own Sno-Cat and they too responded. The NID team arrived at the vicinity first and successfully located the couple and their dog by 12:06 p.m. Thank you, NID and NCSSAR!
Our community is fortunate to have so many dedicated volunteers to search and rescue! Thank you, all!
(Photo depicts Tuesday night’s rescue).
