Sheriff Mark Falk is working on starting up a Gunflint Trail division of Cook County Search & Rescue. “A lot of our calls are up the Gunflint Trail,” he told the county board on October 8, 2013.
A September 18 memo from the sheriff to the county board stated that Cook County Search & Rescue, which is made up of volunteers, is a division of the sheriff ’s office that helps the sheriff ’s office fulfill its statutory requirement to search for lost people and recover bodies. Without a Search & Rescue volunteer force, the sheriff and his deputies would be responsible for carrying out those duties themselves.
Years ago, a “Northern Lights Quick Response Unit” was in place but has no longer been active. “Currently, there is a contingent of Gunflint Trail residents who are very interested in helping us formalize the North Division of Search & Rescue and become active members,” Falk said in his memo. He told the county board that 10 people had already expressed interest in being part of it.
The county’s Search & Rescue unit is based out of the Cook County Law Enforcement Center and has about 12-15 active members who are mostly Grand Marais-area residents. Two of them live up the Gunflint Trail. “These volunteers are dedicated and committed, Sheriff Falk wrote, “but even then this does not diminish the need for additional members. …It is difficult to recruit new members from other areas of the county largely because of travel time to get to the hall for meetings, trainings, and to respond to calls.”
Sheriff Falk told the board that many of the Search & Rescue volunteers in the Grand Marais area have jobs they cannot leave when a need arises, and when an emergency happens up the Gunflint Trail, they don’t often have very many people from town who are able to respond.
The Sheriff ’s Department has met with the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department and people interested in joining a northern Search & Rescue division. They have discussed the possibility of working out of the old Fire Hall No. 3 building that was moved to the Hall No. 1 site near Poplar Lake. The sheriff is getting cost estimates on building a slab to go under the building.
The Sheriff ’s Department has equipment that could be used by the new Search & Rescue unit, such as an old Tahoe, a pickup, an ATV, a boat and motor, and a couple of snowmobiles. Sheriff Falk told the county board that he was aware of some grants they could apply for to pay for other needed equipment.
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