By Callum Ludwig
GPS technology used by police was the difference in a search and rescue case in the Yarra Ranges that went on until 1.30am.
A 49-year-old Mitcham dirt bike rider lost his two friends on Monday 20 February near Frenchmans Spur Track, and he spent over eight and a half hours lost in dense bushland about 10km off of the nearest access to Warburton-Woods Point Road.
Yarra Ranges Senior Sargeant Peter Muys said he knew from previous searches that it can be quite treacherous out in that environment.
“It’s really removed and really easy to suffer from exposure problems without the right protection from the elements and food and water,” he said.
“The terrain is really rough and the tree canopy completely covers the entire area, so if you’re lost in that area and AirWing are overhead they’d be struggling to see you. It hasn’t resulted in such a great outcome for some.”
The man had ridden around for some hours trying to locate his mates or their campsite but was left stranded after he ran out of fuel. At about 5pm he managed to make the first of a series of broken phone calls to his friends with intermittent phone reception but was unable to relocate them.
At 10.10pm, the man suffered a medical episode and made his first call to Triple Zero (000) for assistance, which provided his GPS location to the police.
Snr Sgt Muys said it’s extremely important for lost people to notify police as soon as they can if they’re able.
“If they’re not able to find us, remain where they are, because the more they move, the bigger the problem becomes for us,” he said.
“The truth is that GPS locations are what we rely on, if we’re able to get that from people through the phone calls, we can give those GPS locations to the AirWing to narrow in where they need to be. Without GPS coordinates, it’s quite difficult to know where to be and it could be just that they are somewhere under a canopy.”
The man was found at 1.30am with a small fire that he had lit providing a heat signature that helped pick up his location. A small clearing nearby was big enough for the rescue helicopter to land and allow crews to rescue the man, who was severely dehydrated and taken to hospital for treatment and observation. He was otherwise unharmed.
Snr Sgt Muys said his advice is that if you’re attending those locations, go there with enough preparation.
“Make sure that you’ve prepared with enough protection from the elements, food and water because if you can’t make it back from where you’ve come from, they are the critical elements for everyone that goes out in that area,” he said.
“Make sure that someone knows exactly where you are and have some form of contact as well as protection from the elements to make sure you can survive.”
