Book Review of Death, Daring and Disaster, Search and Rescue in the National parks

Death, Daring and Disaster
Search and Rescue in the National Parks
Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1998
By Charles R. “Butch” Farabee

For those of us who consider search and rescue a welcome daily task, or perhaps a slightly less acceptable nighttime duty, Butch Farabee’s new book provides a catalyst to revive our fervor. It provides many hours of exciting entertainment, and will hopefully enlighten a few folks outside the National Park Service’s search and rescue cadre about the risks and rewards of SAR. It encompasses not only the high profile and superior press opportunity rescues, but also the frustrating, tedious investigation driven searches, which demand our full attention and dedication.

Butch has been a driving force in the search and rescue community, both within and without the NPS. His involvement has given him a front row seat in some of these incidents and the writing reflects his intimate knowledge of the many facets of the Ranger profession. His dedication to his fellow rescuers and those being rescued is present throughout the book. However, he pulls no punches in his descriptions of the incidents, some of which reflect the lapses in judgement of rescuee and rescuer that come in high stress situations.

Butch has selected 375 representative tales from the nearly 150,000 Search and Rescue missions that have been carried out by the National Park Service since Yellowstone was first established as a National Park in 1872. His selections are written as brief vignettes, detailing the actual incident, the response by SAR personnel, snippets of the media coverage, and how things were concluded. Well-deserved attention is paid to the bravery and discipline of those who risked their lives to save others. The book’s glossary dedicates space to those individuals who lost their lives in the line of duty and those who performed other feats of valor and personal sacrifice.

One story that hit especially close to home was the death of eleven people in Antelope Canyon, adjacent to my park, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, in August of 1997. It elicited memories of conversations with members of our Dive Rescue Team who told stories of oppressive heat and skin rashes from diving in the tepid water, thick as effluent with organic debris. This and others of these assembled stories truly recount the gritty reality and moments of exultation that define search and rescue work.

This is a worthwhile read, guaranteed to bring back memories of your own SAR experiences. Especially valuable for those of us who are in green and gray, this compendium of names and incidents evokes memories of pivotal events and long remembered co-workers from the past. A wonderful book for those winter evenings, in front of the wood stove, dallying with visions of near misses and grateful families.