FORT LAUDERDALE, FL -- During the summer in northern Alaska, the sun is visible for 24 hours. Never-ending daylight means the region's Inupiat Eskimos, who depend on subsistence for survival, are out hunting and gathering food at all hours. The Alaska North Slope Borough Search and Rescue (SAR) division maintains 24-hour readiness to assist those who end up in dangerous situations in an unforgiving environment.
A case in point was a rescue on July 31 when the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center was alerted around midnight to a 406 MHz distress signal from an ACR Electronics' AquaFix™ 406 GPS Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) 12 miles southeast of Atqasuk, Alaska. With knowledge of the victim's identity and location, the North Slope Borough SAR Department, based in Barrow, AK, immediately launched a helicopter with a medical team to the remote area.
The flight crew encountered marginal weather en route but successfully arrived on site just after 1 a.m. As they approached the target, they saw a group of people flashing the lights on their ATV's to get noticed. They were in a dry riverbed with high banks. Pilots Rocky Lee and Pat Patterson set the chopper down nearby, avoiding willow trees and caribou in the area.
The medical personnel came to the aid of Paul Bodfish, 27, who reported that he was working alone hauling mats to repair a swampy tundra trail when the steering rod broke on his all-terrain vehicle (ATV), and he was slammed to the ground. The four-wheeler flipped over and broke his collarbone.
Bodfish is an experienced Inupiat who fishes and hunts year-round. He said he always carries a PLB because he knows it can save his life. "I used a PLB before to get rescued in the middle of winter when my snow machine broke down 30 miles out. It was pretty cold, about minus 30 degrees. It's so remote here, you have to have one," he said.
During this summer's rescue, Bodfish, who was writhing in pain, wasted no time in setting off his ACR AquaFix™ 406 GPS PLB. While waiting for help, he heard ATV engines and was able to flag down some villagers traveling on the trail. They stayed with him until the medical team arrived and flew him to a hospital in Barrow.
Pilots Lee and Patterson said the rescue worked as planned. "This was a bona fide emergency. The victim was badly hurt with a broken collarbone. It was a textbook rescue. With the PLB signal, we went straight to him and rendered medical care," Patterson said. "Without the beacon, his friends probably would have driven him to the village to get aid. At 2 to 4 miles per hour, it would've taken them five hours to get there."
North Slope Borough SAR Director Hugh Patkotak said the use of PLBs, especially the newer models with GPS built-in, is vital to their mission work. "The accuracy of GPS technology, which transmits the victim's lat/lon coordinates, dramatically saves valuable SAR response time. With a known fix on someone's position, we're airborne within 45 minutes of notification. When someone's lost up here without a PLB, that's when things get bad real fast."
PLBs are proving to be valuable emergency life-saving devices for outdoor activities of all kinds. Since PLBs were given FCC approval in July 2003 for sale and use in all 50 states, there have been 251 lives saved in the U.S., according to NOAA. Alaska led the states with 161 total rescues. In 2008, 68 people in 35 incidents used PLBs to signal for help in the U.S.
The ACR AquaFix™ 406 GPS transmits a unique, digitally coded, distress signal on 406 MHz frequency to the orbiting COSPAS-SARSAT satellite systems. The 406 MHz signal is monitored by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System (SARSAT) detects and locates distress signals. Go to http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/ to learn more.