By Tracie Sullivan, For Iron County Today
He was 16, stranded on a cliff near Red Hollow Trail, and scared he was going to fall. The call came in just after dark. Within hours, a rescue team had him down safe.
“He was ledged up to a spot where he couldn’t get off by himself,” said Sgt. Michael Hilleger, the search and rescue coordinator for the Iron County Sheriff’s Office. “We were able to use the SUU aviation helicopter to locate him, and then guide our high-angle ropes team in to bring him down.”
It was one of eight search and rescues Iron County crews have responded to over the past few weeks — a number Hilleger says is double what the agency saw during the same time last year.
While some cases involve weather or hikers underestimating the terrain, others are more sensitive. One woman, found sleeping under a tree near her home in the Kane Springs area, had walked away from her residence more than once.
“There may be some underlying medical issues,” Hilleger said. “We’re just glad we were able to get her the help she needed.”
Each call is different. But what’s helping teams respond faster — and safer — is technology.
“The drones have been a huge help,” Hilleger said. “The GPS coordinates we get from 911 calls can bounce around, especially in canyons, so we still need to visually locate the subject. We can do that faster now with drones and the helicopter.”
Drones not only help locate missing individuals but can also fly ahead of ground teams to find the safest paths, particularly during daylight. At night, thermal imaging and FLIR (forward-looking infrared) cameras help track movement that the human eye could miss.
“When I started with SAR in 2014, we didn’t have any of that,” Hilleger said. “Now we have drones, mapping software, helicopters — we’re using tools that save time and lives.”
One of the most significant tools is SARTopo, short for Search and Rescue Topography — an advanced mapping system that allows teams to coordinate movements, track resources in real-time, and overlay terrain, satellite, and GPS data on shared live maps.
“I wanna say that our team in the state has kind of led the way with SARTopo. We teach SARTopo to all kinds of search and rescue teams up and down the state right now, and we’re probably leading the way,” Hilleger said. “Iron County, I think, is leading the way on the SARTopo, and that’s an awesome, awesome mapping and tracking technology that we’re using.”
Still, technology is only part of the story. The rest is grit.
During the search for the Kane Springs woman, SAR teams were dispatched after midnight. Deputies, drone operators, K9 teams, and ground crews searched roads and tree lines in the dark.
She was finally found around 3 a.m., curled up under a tree not far from her home. In another case, a 14-year-old runaway from a wilderness program had walked three miles through rugged terrain before being found cold but safe, several hours later.
“It’s been a busy stretch,” Hilleger said. “We’ve had more runaways from group homes lately, and as the weather warms up, we’re seeing more people out hiking. Tourism is definitely part of it.”
Despite the uptick in calls, all recent rescues have ended successfully.
“That’s something we’re really proud of,” he said. “It’s a team effort every single time.”