NPS team leader tells story of last week’s rescue on Mt Alava

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The man who was in charge of the nine-member National Park Service (NPS) Search and Rescue team that saved the life of a Fagasa man lost on the top of Mt. Alava last Thursday night spoke to Samoa News about their mission that night — describing it as  “dangerous and risky” — but they were well prepared to bring the man down “safely and alive.”

Hailing from the village of Pago Pago, Anthony Wyberski, one of the Field Supervisors at the NPS led the rescue team who went up to the top of Mt. Alava late at night to bring down a man who was lost on the mountain.

This is his story as told during a one-on-one interview with Samoa News at the NPS main office at Pago Pago.

Describing the experience from that night as “dangerous and risky”, Wyberski told Samoa News they found out through social media from some of their co-workers that a man from Fagasa was lost at the top of Mt. Alava and the family was pleading for help. The co-worders contacted Wyberski about the situation and wanted to know if he had a plan.

After speaking to his supervisor in an effort to discuss more information regarding the situation, Wyberski made the decision that his rescue team needed to act.

“It was roughly around 11:30p.m when I received the call about the situation and by 12 midnight after I alerted members of my rescue team to get ready, I was already at our main office preparing for our mission,” Wyberski recalled.

When he arrived at the office, he first set a plan needed for the mission before he grabbed all the gear that might be needed for the task head. He didn’t want to get into any situation unprepared. Later on that night, members of the crew arrived from their homes and they went to the NPS warehouse at Utulei to get their gear.

“After that, it’s mandatory to have a briefing because we don’t want to go into any situation unprepared. I gave instructions to the team on what was needed to be done when we arrives at the site because we wanted to do our beset to save the man’s life and respect the family while they’re in a bad situation,” Wyberski said.

The team arrived at the Fagasa pass and was able to meet up with members of the man’s family, along with residents of Fagasa, who gathered at the area in an effort to find ways to assist everyone else in the search.

Wyberski said that once they were told by the family that they had already located the man, that was when he made the call to rescue the man and immediately instructed his team to get ready to go up to the mountain to bring the man down to his family.

According to Wyberski, once the family told them that the man’s condition at the time was very bad, that’s when he instructed his team to take with them everything they might need for the task and they headed along the road up to the mountain top using the NPS vehicle.

Due to the weather conditions that night and also the condition of the road up to the top, very muddy, the crew parked their vehicle half way up and they preceded the rest of the way on foot — taking almost a hour to reach the location where the man was waiting for a rescue.

The rescue team carried with them big back packs containing gear that they might need for the mission such as a First Aid kit, ropes, litter board (rescue basket), O2 kit, and other items they thought might be needed.

“We met up with family members and other village men who were already at the location, and the man was soaking wet and looked tired. We immediately did our assessment from head to toe and did everything we could to make sure we got the proper information back to EMS, so EMS could get back to the doctor. It’s all part of our training and the steps we have to take to make sure we give him the best care we can.

“The man’s condition that night when we found him was pretty bad and we gave him oxygen because he was just out of breath. Despite the road conditions that night, Wyberski said his team was able to bring the man down using the litter-board they brought with them.”

The rescue team were able to carry the man down to their vehicle, and then transport him down to the Fagasa pass where his family and fellow-villagers were gathered awaiting his arrival. From there, he was transported to EMS and straight to the LBJ Medical Hospital for treatment.

Speaking of his feelings after they accomplished their mission that night, Wyberski said, “As a member of the rescue team, it’s always a good feeling to bring someone back to the family safely and alive and at the same time, members of the rescue team are also safe,” adding that “our job is to rescue and to bring the person back to the community safely and alive.

According to Wyberski, the team’s training prepares them for any situation, and it’s up to the person in charge to make the right call if the situation is uncertain.

For this mission, his initial plan was that, if the family had not already gone up the mountain at that time, he would have instead made the decision that it’s better for the team to wait until morning so that they could actually see the location and help out the best they could for the man and his family.

The rescue team that went on the mission that night, according to Wyberski, consisted of four experienced members and the rest were new. The mixture of old and new members is also a good thing because the old members will share their experience with the new ones, which help them settle into their role

“It doesn’t matter what level of training you’ve had. You can always delegate something for the other members and as long as the new members know what they’re doing and follow the guidelines, the mission will run smoothly and later be accomplished,” Wyberski said.

TRAINING AND FITNESS

Training and Fitness play a solid role in the NPS rescue team’s results. Everyday the rescue team conducts their training out in the field or even on the mountain top where they hike everyday carrying big bags containing gear needed for a rescue or project mission.

“Fitness plays a key role in our daily training. We have some big guys in our team but we are used to hiking up the mountain everyday, which gives us the strength to fulfill our daily tasks. Hiking up the mountain top is like a normal routine to us, not only does it give us strength and fitness but also the desire to do something good for others.”

The NPS rescue team conducts their training at the same location where they perform their work, however, there are times they go out to other location to do more training as needed.

Their training is based on the situations that happen in our own community. They spend the whole day training on the mountain because these are some of the areas where incidents occur.

“If someone is lost in the bush or a hiker is unable to return back to where he/ she started especially in areas that are under our jurisdiction, we receive training on how to find that person and to bring them safety back to the community.”

According to Wyberski, they have been engaged in rescue missions like this throughout the years, along with DPS (Department of Public Safety) and EMS. The communication with these two government agencies is good and has been for many years now.

However, he stated that COVID-19 really blocked their communication with other agencies.

In the past when situations and incidents happened, DPS and EMS always contacted them to let them know when someone has gone missing. If the incident happen in an area under the Park jurisdiction, the rescue team would respond and offer their help. However, if it’s outside of the Park jurisdiction, the rescue team still helps out but they don’t want to step on anyone’s toes.

“We have a good relationship with DPS and EMS in the past and they always inform us when there is a situation, however, this is the first time that nobody from DPS or EMS contacted us regarding this situation and we don’t know why.”

In conclusion, the NPS rescue team is calling out to the community to contact their office whenever they need assistance and they will respond accordingly.