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Thrilling Tales of the Montrose Search and Rescue

ON THE BOOK SHELF

By John M. Malecky June, 2020


Thrilling Tales of the Montrose Search and Rescue
By Mike Lawler

Available from:
FSP Books & Videos
188 Central Street, #4
Hudson, MA 01749-1330
1-800-522-8528
e-mail: support@fire-police-ems.com
www.fire-police-ems.com

Price: $24.99

This is a soft cover book measuring 6 ½ inches by 9 inches and has 122 pages. These are select incidents responded to and operated at by the Montrose Search and Rescue team. Since 1947 this team of dedicated volunteers has been rescuing, and in some cases recovering, victims in the mountainous regions not too far from the city of Los Angeles, California. The group is from Crescenta Valley. After the history chapter the rescues are broken down into the categories of mountain. Ice and snow, car crashes, dog, plane crash, underground and the liter side of rescues.

The book is inundated with both black and white and color photos and the stories are such that they brought me to both joy and sorrow because not all came to a happy ending. We think of volunteers as always being on call to fight fires and answer ambulance and rescue calls and for that we should all be respectful. However for Montrose, many of their calls last for extended times and involve difficult access situations, many times compounded by adverse weather conditions as well as treacherous ground conditions resulting from such weather. We must realize that victims need rescue either because of what predicament they are in or simply due to being unconscious or having injuries that cause them to become immobile.

In my younger years I would have been able to physically keep up a firefighting or rescue team but now being in the “fall” of my life so to speak I get exhausted as I empathize the agility needed to be a member of the team. Do not get me wrong…it is not that I get tired of reading of these incidents. On the contrary they are unique and keep you in suspense. It is just to picture myself in their place and the energy they expel in doing their devoted work. And all of this without pay!

This book is an easy read in terms of short stories, but the details of them make you want to hug your loved ones because on short notice and in innocent ways there could be a chance of loss or serious injury many times due to Mother Nature.

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John MaleckySenior Columnist

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