Lost In The Woods
t was 10:00 pm on a cool September night in 2004, when a 9-1-1 call reported a missing 5-year-old girl and her dog outside of Larkspur, Colorado. The girl was believed to have followed her dog into the neighboring Pike National Forest. Quickly, more than 30 rescue volunteers from the Alpine Rescue Team and the Arapahoe Rescue Patrol were canvassing the rugged terrain using the Larkspur Fire Department as their Incident Command Post.
When a 5-year-old child goes missing there’s no time to waste. Adding to the urgency of this particular search, one of Alpine Rescue Team’s best trackers identified fresh mountain lion tracks that appeared to be following the child and the dog.
The news of the disappearance spread, and Charley Shimanski, the incident commander, called Denver’s KUSA-TV to ask for their helicopter, “Sky 9” to assist in the search at first light. Charley joined pilot Leo Galanis and the KUSA photojournalist in an aerial search. Twenty minutes later a wave of relief washed over the rescue operation when one of the ground teams found the little girl an astounding 3 miles – mostly uphill, and across a stream, from her home.
Due to the difficult terrain and the fact that the girl had somehow lost her shoes, Charley decided to land the helicopter and fly her back to the fire department, for a quick reuniting with her parents. Carrying Gina (name changed) to the helicopter on his shoulders to protect her legs from the dense scrub oak, Charley struck up a friendly conversation to keep her at ease.
"Gina, guess what? You get to go on a helicopter," Charley said, trying to ease Gina's nerves. Gina's eyes widened with excitement as she asked, "A HELICOPTER? What's that like?" Charley replied, "Just like a ride at the Elitch Garden amusement park!"
"How fun!" Gina exclaimed, her excitement palpable. However, as Gina and Charley came over the ridge and caught their first glimpse of the awaiting helicopter and pilot, Gina’s grip on Charley's wrists tightened, and she said with sudden hesitation, "WAIT! WAIT! I can't go on a helicopter!"
Charley felt a sense of dread, anticipating the potential difficulties of navigating the miles of challenging terrain on foot. "Oh my god, this is going to be a very arduous bush-whacking hike out," he thought.
Gina explained her concern: "I can't go on a helicopter because I don’t have any shoes, and my mom won't let me go to the amusement park without my shoes."
Recognizing the urgency of the situation and wanting to ensure Gina's safe and speedy return, Shimanski, who had only briefly met Gina's parents at the Firehouse Command Post, decided a small white lie was in order: "Gina, I talked to your mom, and she said that JUST THIS ONE TIME, it's okay to go on a helicopter without shoes."
Unaware that the photojournalist was feeding back to KUSA-TV the live broadcast of her successful rescue, Gina was assisted into the back of the helicopter by Shimanski, who then handed her a set of green aviation headphones to enable clear communication with him over the roar of the rotors.
As the doors closed and the helicopter prepared for takeoff, Gina excitedly noticed the built-in live onboard television monitors, and exclaimed, "They get to have TVs in their helicopters!!!" Little did she know that her own image was being shown on those very same screens, courtesy of the live TV coverage on Channel 9. Due to their remote location down in a valley, satellite reception was weak, resulting in grainy images on the TV screens. Gina leaned over to Charley, as if to share a secret, and whispered into her headset, "They're not very good TVs!"
At ARS, our foremost priority is your mission's success, and we are proud to have dedicated rescue mountaineers like Charley on our team. Our goal is to bring people home. Every time.
And in case you were wondering, Gina’s canine companion, who ran away from the helicopter and all the rescuers in the forest that day, found its way back home safely, two days later.
Charley Shimanski joined the Air Rescue Systems (ARS) team as Director of Training more than a year ago. He shares that it was the ARS reputation that enticed him to lead the development of new training courses. When asked about the best part of working in the ARS team, Shimanski consistently mentions the extraordinary personnel that ARS trains and the quality of character that he interfaces with on a daily basis.
“I have the privilege of working with people who dedicate themselves to being the best part of someone’s worst day. How amazing is that?”
