ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST

Bigger, better and stronger

A new truck custom-designed by Montrose Search and Rescue Team members is out in the mountains helping injured motorists and hikers.

By Gretchen Hoffman

September 12 2001

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST -- With five search and rescue experts, it's easier and safer to help someone whose car has plunged over the side of the twisting roads that snake through the mountains abutting foothill communities.

Two can be deployed over the edge to calm and treat an injured motorist. One mans the winch for the 1,000 feet of cable that stretches down the hillside. Another is running safety, in charge of the ropes attached to the rescue workers who've gone over the edge. The fifth is on the radio.

It wasn't always that way, though. Until the arrival of the new Montrose Search and Rescue truck, the team was usually limited to space for about two people in a truck. Frequent maintenance was also needed, so as wear and tear limited its practical use, the team looked for funds to get a bigger, better vehicle.

In response to their first requests in 1997, the team was told that there was no money budgeted for a replacement truck.

"These things were in the shop more than they were on the road," said Mike Leum, a search and rescue team member. "That's when I got the word processor out and began writing grant requests."

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich kicked in the remaining $40,000 needed for the $120,000 truck, and the team set out to design the perfect vehicle.

They bought the cab and chassis and worked with different manufacturers to lay out the ideal design.

The new Ford F-550 is custom-designed, with 1,000 feet of cable and storage space specially configured to house the equipment needed by the search and rescue volunteers. The winch and the boom -- the metal arm the cable goes over -- were also designed with specific needs in mind.

"Everything about it is bigger, better and stronger," Leum said. "The trucks we've been using, we've overloaded them. All the equipment we've been carrying is too much weight in terms of the chassis. The new one is a lot safer too."

The truck hasn't been called in for any major car-overs or motorcycle-overs since it went into operation a few weeks ago, but team members are confident that its expanded capabilities will make a difference in their rescue efforts, Leum said.

"It's just a matter of time before it's needed," Leum said.

The search and rescue team also occasionally assists injured hikers when there's a road above them, and have even been called in for animal rescues.

"In the winter, people park on pullouts," Leum said. "Their little dog Spot goes out for a walk, then slips on some ice at the edge, and down the chute he goes."

The new truck has an expected life of 10 to 15 years, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has budgeted funds for replacement equipment, Leum said.