The Conne family thought they might die in the Oregon woods after becoming lost for days during a recent mushroom-picking trip.
But thanks to the efforts of Jackson County, Ore. Commissioner John Rachor, the couple and their son are alive and faring relatively well after their six-day wilderness ordeal.
Rachor is also a helicopter pilot. He was flying his aircraft with Lt. John Ward of the Curry County sheriff’s office at his side when he spotted the family in Curry County Feb. 4.
It wasn’t the first time for this veteran of years of search-and-rescue flights. In 2006, it was Rachor who found Kati Kim and her two daughters, who were in the national media spotlight when they were lost in the wilds of Oregon for nine days.
“There’s nothing you can do better than saving someone’s life,” said Rachor, 63, a fourth-generation southern Oregonian. “I have the equipment, and I know the area. I’ve spent a lot of time out in the brush, and so this is kind of a natural fit for me.”
Photo courtesy of John Rachor
John Rachor, a helicopter pilot and Jackson County, Ore. commissioner, stands in front of his Robinson R44 chopper, which he uses for search-and-rescue flights.
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Ward said it was impossible to see the “floor of the ground” in the area they were searching for the Connes — flying about 200 feet above the ground — because of the tree canopy and underbrush. Rachor spotted the family in a clearing in deep ravine in a heavily wooded area, but there was no place to land his four-seat Robinson R44. Ward radioed for help, and the U.S. Coast Guard sent a chopper to lower a basket to rescue the family. For the Conne’s son, Michael, the timing couldn’t have been better.
“I understand from the EMT that went in that the son, who was 25 years old, had a body temperature of 92 (degrees) and frostbite, and his body was shutting down,” Rachor said, “and they didn’t think he had an hour or two left. So this worked out good.”
Years earlier, the Kim family was not as lucky. Kati Kim’s husband, James, died before all could be rescued, after he hiked 16 miles through snow and ice trying to find help. “Fortunately, we got to this one in time,” Rachor said.
Despite his role, he is quick to share credit with those with more skin in the game. “I have the easy job,” he said. “The people who need all the credit are the people that are on the ground that have been out there for three or four days, covered with mud, hungry. They really did a great job.”
Ward is Curry County’s search-and-rescue coordinator. “I’ve known John for many years, so we decided we’d go up and look at the lay of the land from the air,” he said. He grew up in the area and knows it well, as does Rachor.
The reason Rachor owns a helicopter and knows the territory is that he used to own 11 Burger King restaurants, scattered throughout the area. Five of them were equipped with helipads so he could fly in to check on them.
He is beginning his second year on the three-member Jackson County board, of which he is vice chairman for 2012. It was just two years ago that colleagues in the business community encouraged him to run for office. “John, you make good decisions,” he recalls them saying; “you ought to run for county commissioner.”
“I knew absolutely nothing about it,” he said, “but it looked alike a good challenge, so I took it.” He sold his restaurants before taking office as a full-time commissioner in this county of about 200,000. Medford is the county seat.
Now that he’s an elected official, it’s put a crimp in some of his search-and-rescue activity: The County Board controls the search-and-rescue budget, which could pose a conflict of interest for him.
“So county counsel recommended that I withdraw from search and rescue, and I did,” Rachor said. “But what I told them is if there’s a 4-year-old boy lost out there, all bets are off; I’m going anyway, and they agreed. So now, if there’s something critical like this situation where they can’t find somebody, well the sheriff calls me and I go.”
Search and rescue is a regional effort in this part of Oregon through California-Oregon Regional Search & Rescue (CORSAR). Participants include Coos, Curry, Douglas, Josephine, Jackson and Klamath counties, Ore. and Siskiyou and Del Norte counties, Calif. Resources are deployed by counties with the capacity to help to those with the need.
Each search is different, but they also share attributes, and Rachor said instinct can be the equal of knowledge.
“We try to think outside of the box,” he said. “These people were in an area that wasn’t logical that they would be. When we couldn’t find them in an area we assumed they were, we went to a new area, and there they were,” he said, “and that’s happened a number of times.”