Teamwork makes for successful search

Crews from several different public safety teams worked together to find a hiker who had gotten lost off the Whiting Woods trail Tuesday.

Glendale Fire Department Capt. Carlos Guerrero said dispatchers received a call Tuesday at 7:47 p.m. about a hiker who had gotten lost while hiking on the trail near Whiting Woods.

“We received a call from a third party informant,” he said. “We didn’t really know where the hiker was. We didn’t have an exact location. It was already dark. It made it hard to find the individual.”

Guerrero said a full search-and-rescue crew was dispatched, along with 24 GFD personnel, Engine 29 and Truck 29, two additional engines and Fire Patrol 24.

The Glendale Park Rangers provided additional assistance, and the Glendale and Pasadena police departments provided helicopters. Guerrero said the PPD helicopter was especially helpful because it is equipped with a forward-looking infrared device.

“It records different temperatures of heat, and it helps locate people,” Guerrero said, adding that GFD teams also used three thermal imaging devices from the ground.

Search and rescue crews spread out on the ground while helicopter teams swept over the expanse. The search took an hour and 23 minutes, ending when search and rescue team members got an audible response from the hiker, who was across a canyon several hundred feet down a steep hillside.

Guerrero could not divulge details about the hiker or the hiker’s medical condition.

He said the effort took less time than expected, and that assistance requested from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station and a bloodhound was not needed because the hiker was located and helped back to safety.

“It was a well-coordinated effort,” he said.