Fellow SAR Member Unresponsive
March 22, 2026
Horseman’s Camp in Apple Valley
Mission 2026-011
Written by: Richard Yocum
Once each year RMRU undergoes reaccreditation testing by the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA). This year 22 members of RMRU traveled to Horseman’s Camp in Apple Valley in San Bernardino County along with other MRA teams from across southern California and passed its testing in technical rock rescue. A few SAR members remained on site and camped for the night in preparation for new accreditation testing the next day for a team working toward joining the MRA. The evening was relaxed, as a half dozen SAR members from various teams shared burritos, stories, and an amazing sunset.
The next morning, just several minutes before our 7:30 am planned briefing for the day’s testing, I was urgently summoned to assess a fellow SAR member who was not awakening from their sleep. I climbed the ladder to where they spent the night in the rooftop camper over their vehicle and found them barely responsive to only voice and pain stimuli. In typical SAR team fashion, everyone sprang into action, including immediately calling 911, several other medical personnel joining me in the camper, and others serving as scribes and documenting the event. In the confined space of the rooftop camper, we managed to move them into litter, and all hands present assisted in moving the litter down the ladder to a nearby picnic table just as Apple Valley Fire pulled up on scene and took over his care. They transported him to a nearby hospital. As everyone on site was trying to process the sudden and unexpected turn of events, a consensus was reached that the accreditation testing would be postponed to another day.
As of this report, our fellow SAR member was improving over several days in the hospital and undergoing additional testing. The skills we acquire working in SAR automatically kick in when there is a job to be done. It isn’t until after the event that there is time to begin processing what just happened. While the care we deliver is the same regardless of the person we are managing, the emotional impact is a lot harder when it is a fellow teammate, we have worked side by side with or someone we have gotten to know as a friend over the years. We now join together as a SAR community in wishing for a rapid and complete recovery.
RMRU Members Involved: (Nathaniel Desforges, Eric Holden, Guillaume Plateau, and Richard Yocum)
Other Agencies Involved: (SB Cave and Technical Rescue Team, China Lake Mountain Rescue Group, Ventura County Sheriff’s SAR, Ventura East Valley SAR Team, San Diego Mountain Rescue Team, Contra Costa County Sheriff’s SAR Team, Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit, Inyo County SAR, and Apple Valley Fire)