Friday — May 14, 2004

Command central gets new wheels

Search and rescue vehicle dedicated in volunteer’s honor

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By MATT FURBER
Express Staff Writer

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give," said Sue Woodyard, quoting Winston Churchill.

Blaine County’s new mobile command center is designed to facilitate emergency and police operations in the remote landscape of the county. Express photos by David N. Seelig

Woodyard spoke Wednesday at the dedication of a freshly outfitted search and rescue mobile command unit donated to Blaine County in honor of her late husband.

Jim Woodyard, who died last November in an airplane accident near the summit of Lookout Mountain, southeast of Bellevue, was a regular search and rescue volunteer.

Because of his commitment to the program, friends in the community organized to raise approximately $70,000 for the motor coach outfitted with the latest communications technology.

The vehicle designed to facilitate emergency and police operations in the remote landscape of the county was open for public review at Deane Johnson’s private shop in south Woodside.

Woodyard said her husband would have been honored by the generosity of his friends and community members who pitched in to purchase the vehicle.

"If it had been ready, we would have used it two days ago during the (manhunt) north of Ketchum," said Sheriff Walt Femling. He also spoke about the significance of Woodyard’s calming presence during search and rescue operations at the dedication.

"Going out to these difficult situations, (the memory of) his presence will have a calming effect," Femling said.

The five-day search for Woodyard last year cost tens of thousands of dollars, mostly in donated funds and involved over 300 volunteers.

Femling said that in addition to being comfortable the new vehicle has state-of-the art communications equipment on board.

He said if the county lost its dispatch center in Hailey due to some kind of disaster, all communications could be run out of the mobile command unit, which is outfitted with a Zetron radio dispatch consul and a satellite telephone.

"Finally, the equipment matches what search and rescue meant to (Jim)," Sue Woodyard said.

Femling said one of the difficulties during the search for Woodyard was that police could not communicate with helicopters and airplanes that had helped with the search.

"Now we can communicate with aircraft," he said.

Femling said that in addition to backcountry operations the vehicle would be made available to all cities in the county when a command base is required.

The vehicle’s first mission—before all the conversions were completed—was to help keep U.S. Secret Service agents warm during their security detail at the Heinz home in Hulen Meadows when Sen. John Kerry came on vacation this past winter.

Sun Valley Police Chief Cam Daggett said increased radio power on the vehicle would vastly facilitate coordination of searches. Daggett was the ground search coordinator during the search for Woodyard.

"Thank you to everybody who was out wandering this vast enormous environment," Woodyard said. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

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