Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue, Inc. Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue, Inc.

TNSAR Search 11/13/2018

Search for remains after the Camp Fire, Paradise, CA

Submitted by DIRK SCHOONMAKER

Seven TNSAR members journeyed to Paradise to assist in finding remains of victims of the Camp Fire; Matt Jacobs was on the overhead team and doing a great job as usual. There were still about 150 people unaccounted for and we were given 8 homes that were considered high probability because missing people had lived there.

After fire personnel cleared a property as safe to enter we would comb through the remains of the structure looking for anything that might have been a person. In most cases the entire house was now dust, tile, pieces of sheet rock and appliances in a pile on the ground in the crawl space and we would dig down to where we encountered dirt in a coarse probe pattern to clear an area. One structure had been a 2 story apartment building and in this case the whole second floor was resting on top of the first floor and the concrete floor pieces from above had to be removed to get to the rubble below.

We did not find any human remains. We did find one live, terrified cat hunkered down under the front seat of a burned out Chevy truck and we got it out and took it to the command post after calling its owner.

The damage in the area was horrific - entire neighborhoods reduced to ashes with an occasional unscathed house or car in the middle as a surreal reminder of what it once looked like. We probably drove by 400 destroyed homes during the day and the total toll is now at about 7400 so the scope is almost unimaginable. 3/4 of the businesses along the main drag are destroyed - Safeway, McDonalds, churches, post offices - one wonders how the town of 23,000 can rebuild.

Sheriff Searchers
Sage Barrasso
Paul Cushing
Mark Johnson
Dirk Schoonmaker
Brad Altman
Paul Honeywell
Paul Kitano
Andrew Cobourn
Matt Jacobs

Wednesday, Nov 14

Sheriff Searchers
Sage Barrasso
Logan Talbott
Devin Hiemstra
Spike Wimmer
Mark Jacoby
Jeff Coulter
Ryan Decker
Matt Jacobs

Thursday, Nov 15

Sheriff Searchers
Dan Nevins
Andrew Cobourn
Tim Bosse
Scott Baumgardner
Russ Viehman
Paul Kitano
Matt Jacobs

Friday, Nov 16

Sheriff Searchers
John Lasagna
Andrew Cobourn
Mark Jacoby
Paul Honeywell
Dustin Phelan

Saturday, Nov 17

Unlike earlier days, where specific houses of missing people were being searched, today's task was searching an entire chunk of area - all the land, cars, and houses within that area. The effort was more efficient as there was little to no driving. All 13 members of TNSAR broke up into 3 teams and searched the SW area of Paradise off Neal Road.

Sheriff Searchers
Steve Flattery
Andrew Oesterreicher
Mark Jacoby
Bob Wright
Bernie Mellor
Melinda McAllister
Sarah Carbonari
Jimmy Smith
Mark Johnson
Scott Meyer
Russ Veihmann
Brad Altmann
Tim Bosse
Spike Wimmer

Sunday, Nov 18

Sheriff Searchers
Ken White
Calvin Mitchel
Mark Jacoby
Paul Honeywell
Scott Schroepfer
Melinda McAllister
Jimmy Smith
Scott Meyer
Russ Veihmann
Brad Altmann
Tim Bosse
Joe Pace
Colleen Pace

Monday, Nov 19

Sheriff Searchers
Ken White
Jeb Mirczak
Mark Jacoby
Dirk Schoonmaker
Paul Cushing
Mike Trombetta
John Pang

Tuesday, Nov 20

Sheriff Searchers
Mike Mason
Paul Cushing
Andrew Oesterricher
Jeb Mirczak
Geoff Quine
Mike Trombetta
Joanna Wright
Russ Viehmann

Wednesday, Nov 21

Sheriff Searchers
Ken White
Paul Cushing
Joanna Wright
Geoff Quine

Friday, Nov 23

Sheriff Searchers

Paul Cushing
Paul Kitano
Joe Pace

Saturday, Nov 24

Sheriff Searchers
John Riella
Jimmy Smith
Scott Meyer
Paul Kitano

Sunday, Nov 25

Sheriff Searchers
John Lasagna
Paul Cushing
Jimmy Smith
Paul Honeywell
Joanna Wright
Spike Wimmer
Jeff Coulter
Bernie Mellor
Mark Johnson

The goal of TNSAR is to conduct fast and safe rescues, and to help educate the public on winter safety. If you would like to help TNSAR in this cause, please use the following PayPal donate link. Thanks!

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