thinner than a poor man’s paycheck. On my way up, Noreen let me know that Panguitch Fire had rolled too.
When I came up on the scene, I pulled alongside the state trooper’s vehicle. She looked up from the trunk of her vehicle as she pulled out flares. I rolled down my window, “Need a hand?”
“Yeah.” Gesturing with one gloved hand off where the railing was broke through, she added, “We need to figure out how to get down there. Why don’t you park and we’ll see what we can do.”
Put my vehicle in reverse, backed it up and then pulled in to park behind the trooper. Both of us left room for the fire-rescue truck near where skid marks showed the car went over. I got out and tugged on my gloves. As I walked over, I could see the car resting between two trees down a fairly steep slope. “I can get down there, I think.” Not a vertical face, but definitely steep enough to require gear. “You alright with that?”
“Yeah, if you can do it,” she yelled back at me. Already she’d headed a few hundred paces upstream from our vehicles. “I radioed for a tow truck.” She added a grunt as she pulled the flare across the striking surface in the cap. The smell of spent gunpowder drifted back at me. “But I don’t think they’ll be able to get it.”
“Ways down for sure.” I probably had enough gear with me to manage this face. I always carried at least some ropes and such in my vehicle. They came in handy for more than just climbing. “Occupants?”
“I can see the driver.” She’d gone down further still, lit the second flare and set it on the road. “Didn’t see anyone else, but it’s hard to tell from up here.”
Figured she’d got that part handled, so I headed around and popped the rear of the Explorer. ‘Bout that time I caught the wail of the fire truck. Panguitch Volunteer FDP rolled up in their smaller engine—looked like a dump truck had mated with a pumper and spit out something that weren’t quite either. An EMS unit roared in hot on their heels. I counted six more sets of hands to help out. The three regulars off the volunteer department, I knew ‘em and knew they wouldn’t be no help; although one of the two EMTs had some climbing experience, he didn’t do search and rescue much. That left the odd man out…Kabe, who swung outta the cab of the big truck.
Took a deep breath, shouldered a set of rope and sauntered over to give ‘em all a quick rundown of the scene. We all agreed I had to go down first. Once I’d set some rope guides, picked out the safest route down, the EMTs could manage well enough following me. Took us all of about a minute to get it straight.
When they all split off to do what parts they needed to get done, I turned towards Kabe. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, last I heard I’m still on the local rescue squad and I’m riding with Panguitch Fire.” The borrowed turnout gear he wore over sweaters and long-johns almost hid the shrug. “ You should remember, after all you set it up.” He started walking to where the mangled guard rail showed where the car went over. “How are we getting down?”
“We?” I moved on after him. “You’re not snow-ice certified.” He’d done a few winter climbs so far, but not enough to use him on a first responder situation.
He stared over the lip and sized up the face, kinda like I’d done a moment ago. “True.” Then looked over at me. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t need a hand now and then.” His grin hit me kinda sideways…I got the sense he threw a joke in on top of the serious part of his words.
“I guess.” I started sorting my rope, making sure it weren’t tangled none. “Maybe I should call up Jessup and Rodrigo.” Both of them had the right qualifications to be lead on this.
A snort let me know what he thought of that plan. “You want to wait while that driver goes further into death-by-exposure territory, fine by me.” Kabe’s glare told me he knew I wouldn’t wait for
When I came up on the scene, I pulled alongside the state trooper’s vehicle. She looked up from the trunk of her vehicle as she pulled out flares. I rolled down my window, “Need a hand?”
“Yeah.” Gesturing with one gloved hand off where the railing was broke through, she added, “We need to figure out how to get down there. Why don’t you park and we’ll see what we can do.”
Put my vehicle in reverse, backed it up and then pulled in to park behind the trooper. Both of us left room for the fire-rescue truck near where skid marks showed the car went over. I got out and tugged on my gloves. As I walked over, I could see the car resting between two trees down a fairly steep slope. “I can get down there, I think.” Not a vertical face, but definitely steep enough to require gear. “You alright with that?”
“Yeah, if you can do it,” she yelled back at me. Already she’d headed a few hundred paces upstream from our vehicles. “I radioed for a tow truck.” She added a grunt as she pulled the flare across the striking surface in the cap. The smell of spent gunpowder drifted back at me. “But I don’t think they’ll be able to get it.”
“Ways down for sure.” I probably had enough gear with me to manage this face. I always carried at least some ropes and such in my vehicle. They came in handy for more than just climbing. “Occupants?”
“I can see the driver.” She’d gone down further still, lit the second flare and set it on the road. “Didn’t see anyone else, but it’s hard to tell from up here.”
Figured she’d got that part handled, so I headed around and popped the rear of the Explorer. ‘Bout that time I caught the wail of the fire truck. Panguitch Volunteer FDP rolled up in their smaller engine—looked like a dump truck had mated with a pumper and spit out something that weren’t quite either. An EMS unit roared in hot on their heels. I counted six more sets of hands to help out. The three regulars off the volunteer department, I knew ‘em and knew they wouldn’t be no help; although one of the two EMTs had some climbing experience, he didn’t do search and rescue much. That left the odd man out…Kabe, who swung outta the cab of the big truck.
Took a deep breath, shouldered a set of rope and sauntered over to give ‘em all a quick rundown of the scene. We all agreed I had to go down first. Once I’d set some rope guides, picked out the safest route down, the EMTs could manage well enough following me. Took us all of about a minute to get it straight.
When they all split off to do what parts they needed to get done, I turned towards Kabe. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, last I heard I’m still on the local rescue squad and I’m riding with Panguitch Fire.” The borrowed turnout gear he wore over sweaters and long-johns almost hid the shrug. “ You should remember, after all you set it up.” He started walking to where the mangled guard rail showed where the car went over. “How are we getting down?”
“We?” I moved on after him. “You’re not snow-ice certified.” He’d done a few winter climbs so far, but not enough to use him on a first responder situation.
He stared over the lip and sized up the face, kinda like I’d done a moment ago. “True.” Then looked over at me. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t need a hand now and then.” His grin hit me kinda sideways…I got the sense he threw a joke in on top of the serious part of his words.
“I guess.” I started sorting my rope, making sure it weren’t tangled none. “Maybe I should call up Jessup and Rodrigo.” Both of them had the right qualifications to be lead on this.
A snort let me know what he thought of that plan. “You want to wait while that driver goes further into death-by-exposure territory, fine by me.” Kabe’s glare told me he knew I wouldn’t wait for
Similar Books
