On Feb. 6 at 5:54 p.m. the Emergency Dispatch Center in St. Johnsbury, Vermont received a call from Burke Mountain Ski Resort reporting two 16 year-old skiers missing.
The Remote Rescue Vehicle and personnel, which is made up of members of the Sheffield-Wheelock Fire Department and other Emergency Service Departments, were dispatched.Squad 25 & the Remote Rescue Vehicle belonging to Sheffield Wheelock Fire Department and Lyndon Rescue 93 responded to the Kirby Road area of East Burke and set up a command center at 964 Kirby Road in the driveway of Jim Himman, Captain of the East Burke Fire Department.
With Burke Mountain Ski Patrol searching from the Ski Resort down, Chief Marc Brown and Assistant Chief Jim Stephan Deployed their 4-wheeler and Stokes basket with Captain Shane Lanphere and John Dole from Lyndon Rescue. Chief Brown and Burke Mountain Ski Patrol were in constant communication via cell phones.
Ski Patrol was also in communication with the two teenagers via cell phones; however due to the thick snow falling, movement in the back country was slow at best.
St.Johnsbury Fire Department Responded with the "Ranger" Belonging to Calex Rescue and staged at the East Burke Fire Station.
The operator of a trail groomer for the Caledonia County Snowmobile Trail Club was called by Jim Himman and asked if he could assist with the search. Once Chief Brown had talked with the groomer via cell phone, Mr. Towle took off and did provide valuable lighting in the remote area.
The missing skiers were located at 7:45 p.m. about 1.5 miles from the Kirby Road Command site. They were evaluated by the ski patrol briefly in the field and then returned to the Ski resort and to their parents by Ski Patrol snowmobiles. At 9:11 p.m. Command was terminated and all rescuers were heading home.This Search for missing skiers follows other rescues that have happened in Vermont this winter at Killington Ski Resort and Pico Mountain, which have had skiers go missing but found alive, along with backwood skiers being lost on Mount Mansfield, the state's highest mountain in Underhill, and Camels Humpin Duxbury, and Huntington, Vermont. So Far, partially in thanks to local volunteers, all lost skiers have been found alive.
