BENTON – The Marshall County Rescue Squad is using the latest in technology to ensure that an incident, such as January’s plane crash in Lyon County, never happens again.
While admittedly, there is nothing that can be done to prevent such tragedies, local responders say they can equip themselves with this new life-saving device that can help ensure those in need of help are located far more quickly and efficiently.
Emergency Management Director Frank Murphy recalls that night – the evening that he and numerous other responders set out in an attempt to locate the downed aircraft. One brave little girl managed to escape the crash that killed four other members of her family including her mother and father. Luckily, she was able to free herself from the wreckage and go for help.
But responders had only the child’s information and location of the last distress call to go by when trying to locate the crash site.
From responding to a report of a watercraft or an aircraft in distress, beacon locators can mean the difference in life and death – and now, thanks to the efforts of those who have sought to ensure this project moves forward, the Marshall County Rescue Squad is the proud owner of an electronic transponder locator.
The L-Tronics, Little L-Per portable device can be placed on a car or plane dashboard or packed easily in a backpack. The case is sealed and designed for up to 15,000 feet altitude or 9 foot immersion in water, and a –20 to +60 deg C temperature range. The device can also float.
“The plane crash in Lyon County really got us to thinking…had we not found the little girl there is no telling how long it would have taken us to find the location of the crash site,” Murphy said.
In this case, it is believed there were no survivors upon impact in the wreckage aside from the one child, however, when critically injured victims are awaiting rescue, every second counts.
It’s for that reason Murphy says he and Marshall County Rescue Squad Chief Curt Curtner sought to be proactive and find a device that is cost effective and portable enough to use for any purpose, whether it be land or air searches.
“We are also responsible for so many miles of Kentucky Lake and with all of the commercial watercraft traffic, it just makes sense that we have this device,” Murphy said.
The need to detect, locate and navigate to downed aircrew, mariners and adventurers is growing with the worldwide increase of the beacon population. Not being able to accurately pin-point an emergency beacon could easily result in a lengthy and costly search operation.
A device such as the L-Per allows land or airborne Search and Rescue organizations to be able to utilize their available resources more effectively to rescue people in distress. The cost of the instrument was less than $1,000. The Rescue Squad will be training to use the device in the coming weeks utilizing a training beacon.