Archive for Saturday, June 27, 2009

Search for Green postponed

High water and continued rain delay search planned for Monday at Fish Creek Falls

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Friends say Rebecca Green of Steamboat Springs, 40, is an incredibly loving mother and active local volunteer. Green has been missing since Saturday afternoon, and search crews have been forced to scale back their efforts in the upper Fish Creek Falls area because of unsafe conditions.

Editor's Note: This story has been changed from its original version, to reflect that a final decision was not made until Saturday afternoon to postpone Monday's planned search for Rebecca Green. The sheriff emphasized Saturday morning that he was still talking with rescue teams and swift water experts to determine the safest and best course of action.

An extensive search planned for Monday for Rebecca Green, the Steamboat Springs woman who fell into Fish Creek on June 13, ha been stymied by continued high water and rainfall.

Routt County Sheriff Gary Wall decided late Saturday afternoon to postpone Monday's search effort because the water levels had not receded enough to make the situation safe for rescuers.

"The bottom line of it is there is not an appreciable difference in the water flows between (June) 15th and now:based on that, we're not really going to have another difference in a couple of days," Wall said. "I called the (Summit County) sheriff and called it off."

As many as 32 volunteers from Summit County Water Rescue were available to join Routt County Search and Rescue volunteers for an extensive search Monday, but rescuers said water conditions have not changed enough from the last search to make improve the safety of crews or their likelihood of success.

"The storms coming in make a huge difference, and I'm not willing to risk a recovery effort when things have not appreciably changed," he said Friday. "This is a very emotional thing for all of us, but we don't want to get somebody else killed trying to recover somebody."

Wall said he is communicating with Summit County Sheriff John Minor, who Wall said has agreed to send crews whenever they are needed.

Wall has been up to the search site every day for the previous five days, he said, and the water levels continue to fluctuate based on rainfall and temperature with continued snowmelt flowing into the creek.

"I talked to all the experts I can about water flow, about degrees of recovery and about the change in the water flow from a week and a half ago. I spent the day researching this," he said Friday.

The Sheriff's Office oversees Routt County Search and Rescue, but Wall does not typically have input in day-to-day operations. In this case, however, he said the ultimate responsibility rests on him.

The Routt County Search and Rescue team has been monitoring water levels for the past week and plan to search two "very high probability" areas and eight to 10 "high probability" areas near the upper falls when conditions improve, Routt County Search and Rescue spokeswoman Riley Polumbus said.

"The water levels are not at where we want them to be to do this safely and have the most success that we can have," Polumbus said. "We don't want to put anyone's life at risk, and our goal is really to find her and not to continue to search for her when the conditions are dangerous."

Polumbus said Routt County Search and Rescue volunteers will continue to monitor the water levels and search as often as possible during the coming week.

Cris Bezinque, team leader with Summit County Water Rescue, said he had planned to bring eight swift-water and 24 search and rescue volunteers to comb the site. Ten members of the Summit County team also helped local searchers June 14 and 15.

Searching in deep, fast water is similar to searching in an avalanche, Polumbus said, because searchers must use probes to search underwater and face a constant risk from the fast water.

Green, 40, and her 8-year-old son Kade, fell into Fish Creek below the upper falls. Kade grabbed onto a branch and pulled himself out of the water and had minor injuries. Rebecca Green has not been seen since.

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