June 10th, 2009

By Janet DelTufo, Assistant Editor

A joint effort that included several public safety agencies led to a rescue last week in Morristown of two Wickenburg men in their late 70s.

According to Circle City/Morristown Fire Chief Harry Dame, the rescue came eight hours after two men in a vehicle became stranded in the Morristown desert. The two men have not been identified due to privacy concerns.

A man - who refused to identify himself - entered the Morristown firehouse about 11 a.m. last Wednesday and reported seeing a man wandering in the desert. Without providing any specific details of the location, and refusing to lead rescuers to the scene, fire department personnel began to search for the two men.

“I am not sure why this man did not want to tell us who he was or why he would not show us the way, but I am grateful that he at least let us know what was happening with these two men,” Dame said. “It was very hot and they were out there for a number of hours without water. We were lucky we found them when we did.”

The search began with the Circle City/Morristown Fire Department, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) and Lifeline Ambulance. Wickenburg Fire Chief Ed Temerowski heard Dame’s calls on his radio and sent out a squad truck and two members of the Wickenburg Fire Department to aide in the rescue effort.

Nearly 45 minutes into the search, Dame began to worry about the health and welfare of the two men and decided to call helicopter service “Trauma Flight” and ask for help.

Within several minutes, Trauma Flight took off from Del E. Webb Hospital to join the search. While in route to Morristown, Dame located one man who had left the truck to seek help and gotten lost.

“He was pretty much out of it by the time we found him,” Dame said. “He was disoriented, and he told us that he might not have made it out there another 15 minutes.”

Trauma Flight arrived shortly after Dame located the wandering man, and within just a few minutes the helicopter service located the other man in the stranded truck.

The man who was on foot was taken to the hospital for treatment and his friend in the truck went with him, although he did not believe he needed any medical assistance.

Dame credits the quick response from the assisting agencies for the success of the rescue.

“Without hesitation, Wickenburg Fire, MCSO, Lifeline and especially Trauma Flight joined the search, and we were able to save two lives,” Dame said. “These two men did not have a cell phone and were approximately 2.5 miles west of Castle Hot Springs Road. They were in rugged terrain and I am happy to say it all ended well … both men are in good condition today.”