New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people and engage in policing on New York State Lands.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers.
On Tuesday, April 9, at 3:15 pm, after finishing work on a prescribed fire, Forest Ranger Captain Jackson observed a plume of smoke from an unrelated fire. Captain Jackson was first on scene and worked on containment while four fire departments responded to the two-acre wildfire in the town of Schroeppel in Oswego County.
By 5:30 p.m., fire crews declared the fire out. The person who started the fire was ticketed for failure to clear flammable material three feet from the fire perimeter.
On Sunday, April 14, at 1:30 p.m., Forest Rangers O’Connell and Schweider responded to a call for help from a 61-year-old hiker lost on private land in the town of Rockland in Sullivan County. Rangers worked with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office and the Beaverkill Valley Fire Department.
At 3:30 p.m., using coordinates from the 911 call, Ranger O’Connell located the subject and helped her back to the road.
Read past Forest Ranger search and rescue reports here.
