It’s been a week since an Orange County couple went missing in Joshua Tree National Park, and searchers are still scouring the area where their car was found. Searchers from the national park, the Sheriff’s Department, Border Patrol, and Joshua Tree Search and Rescue are searching the Maze Loop Trail in a GPS/grid pattern. The searchers on the ground go out and search an area in a very systematic way, by putting in their GPS coordinates, searching the area in a grid pattern, then going back to the command post where they are debriefed. The support people at the command post then determine where to continue the search or if more searchers should go back and search the area again. For more information about getting involved in search and rescue, go to josar.org. Support people who plan the mission and work the maps and radios are needed just as much as the ground pounders who perform the actual search.
