Elkland Search and Rescue

09/14/2026

As we reflect on yesterday's search:
Compassion, Dedication, Drive, Communication and a Willingness to Help Others, all come to mind.

Watching all of the Emergency Responders offering and coming together to help each other, is a true Testament of these Brothers and Sisters Committment to help each other and their communities. They all knew the terrain was treacherous, search conditions were extremely rough, humidity was high, area was soaking wet, they knew it would be a difficult and miserable search and still they came.

As the numbers are tallied, and close to 30 agencies came together to assist with this search, Small Town Proud is an Understatement!

To all those that kept everyone nourished and hydrated, Your Kindness and Generosity were Greatly Appreciated!

To those that allowed us access to your property and opened gates for us, Thank You!

Please keep the Family in Your Thoughts and Prayers as they continue to go through these uncertain times.

09/11/2026

My We Never Forget the Pain, Suffering and Death this Day Caused for So Many in 2001. May We Also Remember the Togetherness We Felt as a Country on Sept. 12, 2001. May We Learn as a Country and Move Forward!

09/03/2026

This morning, shortly after midnight, Elkland Sar was requested to assemble with the other members of the Region 3 Northwest Central Emergency Response Group as a Swift Water Rescue Team to be deployed as a Task Force to assist with flooding. 8 Elkland members answered that call and assemblied our Swiftwater Emergency Response Equipment at our station. The initial meeting location of the Task Force team at the time would be the Clearfield County 911 Center. As the teams were assembling, resources were then requested to report to the scene, the Command Post at the Fire Department in Howard Pa, Centre County. The local resources assembling to consist of the Region 3 Task Force included, Rescue Hose & Ladder Co. and Rescue Hose and Ladder Co. Ambulance Service out of Curwensville, Taskforce 50 - Dubois Fire Department, Clearfield County Department of Public Safety, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. I know there was a 5-Ton Brush Truck also traveling with the Task Force Convoy, as a High Rescue Vehicle, but I'm not sure where they were out of, but I think Clearfield County.

Once tasked on scene with an assignment at the Howard Fire Station, the Task Force was requested to perform some reconnaissance of the roads northwest of the Beech Creek Pa area. Those roads were found to be heavily damaged by run-off and ponded with standing water, debris from hillside slides, powerlines, downed trees and washed out road material. Those finding were reported to the Command Post and the Task Force was then staged at the Beech Creek Fire Department till around 5:30am. Luckily for the Communities, and the Emergency Responders, the rain had slowed down substantially and the water had started to recede. The Task Force was released to return home.

The Task Force responded as only one of VERY MANY Emergency Responding Agencies that were called to assist at this weather event. Last evening the Task Force, traveling as a team consisted of about 25 members with a combination of over 12 emergency response support vehicles. Communications were handled by Clearfield Office of Emergency Services, Elk County Office of Emergency Services, Centre County Emergency Management, Clinton County Office of Emergency Services and I'm sure there were others.

Below you will see a posting from The Wilds Network - Elk & Cameron, as they were reporting the information they were receiving from monitoring of radio communications as the events unfolded. You will be able to read the inflow of information as we were monitoring the situation as we were traveling as a Task Force.

• Reporting 4 +/- inches has fallen in Northern Centre County & near Lock Haven in Clinton County
• People are trapped in flooded homes
• Reports of people floating down the river
• People are stuck in/on cars
• Ambulances are unable to access patients
• Reporting many resources would be HOURS away because they have been depleted.
• Ambulance advising they will be retreating from their current staging point before they become victims themselves due to rising flood waters.
•• egress for ambulance was blocked by a tree, turning around and trying a secondary route
📻Radio traffic is frequent & chaotic, we likely will not keep up with it.
12:40 -⚡️Reporting at least 2 more weather cells headed their way within the next hour or so.
12:55 - reporting heavy rain is upon them need boats or lifted vehicles ASAP to shuttle about 20 people to higher ground from Liberty Sportsmen’s campground, PSP trooper advising they are out of radio coverage, some folks at this location are on higher ground and refusing to leave.
• another 2.5-3 inches is going to fall between now and 5AM, these folks need to make an informed decision as waters are only going to continue to rise
There are MANY resources enroute to this area to assist - please keep these responders, the dispatchers, incident commanders, municipal and state workers, state and local police, and emergency management agencies trying to sort through all of this, and all of those affected in your thoughts and prayers this morning.
1:18 - we stopped listening in on this absolute catastrophic event for now. Keep an eye out in the future for assistance requested for affected individuals, we will share any information we may receive in the coming days.
*Reports are based on emergency radio traffic and other preliminary information. Details may change as additional information becomes available. Due to nature of post errors may be present.

Please Be Safe,
Turn Around and Don't Drown,
Respectfully Submitted,
John Feldbauer
Chief
Elkland Sar

08/28/2026

On Wednesday evening, about 20 Elkland Sar members met with about 75 other community Emergency Responders to attend a "Military Helicopter Orientation and Emergency Responder Training" hosted by EMS West at the St. Marys Airport. The event started with an introduction with over 12 Military Flight Crew Members inside a hanger at the airport.

The group then broke down and toured 3 different helicopters in smaller groups listening and conversing with the crews of each helicopter. The Airman Crews discussed and showed the Emergency Responders the best approach paths and how to gain access to the helicopters if the helicopters would experience an emergency landing. The Emergency Responders were shown how to shutdown the engines and how to disconnect the batteries of each unit. The location of the fuel tanks were also shown. The Flight Crews showed the Responders where the safest places to gain access into each helicopter were and what to be cautious of and work around. Also discussed were the helicopters capabilities and the number of individuals each could carry. The Flight Crews discussed what gear they carried and were it was located on the person and how to get them out of their flight gear if needed.

Some Responders also took the opportunity to converse between themselves as they discussed plans and equipment needed to breach into the units and how they would transport the equipment into a possible remote location for a rescue situation. Other conversations included possible medical situations and transporting any individuals needing medical care.

I believe the helicopters that were brought in for the presentation included a C145(?), a Blackhawk and a Chinook. The helicopters were out of Fort Indiantown Gap and also the Johnstown Air National Guard Unit.

Elkland SAR would like to Thank all the individuals at EMS West for all their work in bringing in this presentation and also the United States Military for coordinating 3 helicopters from different units and the Flight Crew to show the First Responders what these units are all about.

Interestingly, The Blackhawk, was piloted by a St. Marys native, Ms. Nicklas! How Cool is That, as Her Parents got to see their Daughter fly off into the sunset! Yes, Elkland Sar is Elk County Proud!

08/22/2026

Elkland was requested to provide rehab for this incident. We responded with 9 members and equipment to assist the individuals already on scene. We returned and were back in service around 8:15pm.

08/14/2026

This past Friday, Saturday and Sunday some members of Elkland Sar traveled to the Clearfield County Office of Emergency Services to participate in a Wide Area Search Class. This class focused on natural disaster response and terrorism incidents. Members of various Emergency Services traveled from both the local areas and some members from the US Border Patrol from Vermont traveled in to participate in the class.

The Instructors are members of the National Urban Search and Rescue Teams. They brought years of their skills, knowledge, lessons learned and experience into the classroom from responding to incidents like tornados, flooding incidents, hurricanes and terroristic incidents.

Some of the discussions included organizing, mobilizing and best use of resources for diseasters. Proper techniques for searching for victims and proper documentation practices for damaged homes and buildings were discussed and practiced in the class. Hands on Search Techniques and proper building and land coverage after a disaster were also part of the class.

The information learned is something Elkland Members hope they never need to use. But if requested, have a better understanding and have learned the proper skills needed to initiate a response to a disaster in our response area.

08/12/2026

Monday night at 11:30pm came the first notification that assistance was needed for this search. Due to travel time, about 2.5 hours, and lack of sleep issues, the decision was made to allow the team to slèep for awhile. At 4:30am, the pagers went off, alerting the team members, they were needed in Crawford County. 10 Elkland Members and the equipment traveled to the below Fire Department and went to work with all the other Emergency Responders. Around 11:30am the gentleman was located by search teams, medically evaluated, and due to exposure to the elements for such an extended time period, the decision was made to send him to the hospital to be evaluated.

Working with, and seeing everyone come together to bring this individual home is a Great Experience! Government Agencies, Volunteer Sar Teams, Fire and EMS Departments all did their part to make this happen.

Special Shout Out, to the Church Group of Ladies who wouldn't allow anyone to go home until we were all fed!

All equipment was cleaned and the team returned back in service around 5:15pm, ready for the next call.

The below article is well written and worth the read.

08/06/2026

Elkland Search and Rescue was requested to respond this morning to assist for this missing 2 year old individual. We are So Happy to report our services were not needed as the individual was located quickly.

The requesting agency was the Pennsylvania State Police out of Punxsutawney.

08/06/2026