Devil's Blanket Responsible for Increasing Ice Rescues
Rescues in Saginaw Bay, Michigan, Sunday evening and Lake Erie Monday morning are the latest in an alarmingly high number of Great Lakes ice rescues since Saturday, prompting a Coast Guard reminder of the risk of venturing out onto the ice and of the importance of taking appropriate safety precautions. The names and hometowns of the rescued and assisted are not being released. At about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, a 911 operator contacted search-and-rescue controllers at the Coast Guard Sector Detroit Command Center to report a disoriented man on Saginaw Bay in blizzard conditions. The man called 911 from his cell phone, allowing the dispatchers to determine his coordinates before losing communication with him.
National Search and Reascue School Celebrates 40th Birthday
The National Search and Rescue School at Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown celebrated its 40th year of saving lives today, an official ceremony will be held Friday October 27, 2006. Founded in 1966 by the Coast Guard and Air Force, the school is devoted to teaching and standardizing the search and rescue procedures that enable the breathtaking rescues depicted in the recent Touchstone movie, The Guardian. During the last 40 years, school instructors have trained nearly 29,000 people from more than 148 nations to carry out search and rescue missions on land and sea. Those who graduate from its courses staff rescue coordination centers worldwide performing search planning and coordination for inland and maritime rescues.
