Ladd Brindley
Search and Rescue
The name Ladd may sound familiar to many of you because of Ladd’s Towing, but did you also know Ladd just accomplished his 30-year anniversary with our Search and Rescue Team! Ladd joined the team in 1992 and was sponsored by one of the original members of the SAR team, Carson Sprage. Ladd has held every Officers seat available, including Commander, Captain, Sargent, and Lieutenant.
I was able to grab Ladd as he was en route to a vehicle recovery. We took an exciting walk down memory lane. Reflecting on his 30 years of service, he says there isn’t a section of Iron County this team hasn’t covered. Back then the volunteers were doing ICSSAR activities 7 days a week. Some nights they would provide security at a HS dance or sporting event and other nights they’d be on a rescue. They used all their own personal equipment. On occasions the Sheriffs would fill up their tanks of gas after long searches. He remembers how excited the team got when they were finally able to get two-way radios in their trucks or when they had handhelds to help them communicate with each other. They went from having to pre-establish meeting points and meeting times to being able to communicate with each other during an active search without having to back track to meeting points. One of the prior Commanders, Charlie Morris, was instrumental to improving technology for the team in the mid 1990’s. He established the first command post which was a true game changer in the field of Search and Rescue. Back when Crystal Mountain Recreation was open, they would give the volunteers 10 snowmobiles to go out and look for people because many members of the team didn’t own their own and the County wasn’t supplying vehicles to the unit at that time.
Ladd shared with me a couple of the searches that stick out in his mind. His most memorable came during the middle of summer one year. He was out of town and heard about the search that was underway as an interagency partnership with Iron County and Washington County. An old boy about 90 years old, was traveling from his daughter’s house in New Harmony to Pinto to see family. He never arrived in Pinto, which started the search for him. When Ladd arrived on scene the others had already been searching for a couple days. Ladd truly feels the man upstairs has put him places he needed to be, and this was one of those days. He started searching an area that no one else had searched yet. He found fresh footprint tracks and then noticed a coat. As he continued in his vehicle, he was using his mirrors to look around to each side of the vehicle when he looked down and saw the man. He said, “Are you the one I’m looking for?”. The man replied, “I sure as hell hope so.”. This man had been drinking water from a cattle trough to stay alive. His vehicle had broken down which had left him stranded. Ladd remembers giving him a bologna sandwich and water and told he was bringing him back to the ambulance to get checked out. The man said, “I used to drive ambulances for General Paton, I don’t want to get in one of those.”.
Ladd recognizes the risk volunteers place themselves in to save others. He recounts a time the team had headed into the Brian Head/Cedar Breaks area to search for 5 overdue snowmobilers from the night before. When they located the party of 5, they were so cold they couldn’t talk. Hypothermia was setting in. The individuals had built a snow cave that they were taking shelter in. That same night one of the SAR volunteers had become disorientated and lost. Fortunately, they had radio communication and were eventually able to find the volunteer,but panic was starting to set in for all involved. The winter storms can be harsh. There are times the wind and snow are blowing so hard it hurts your lungs to breath up there, Ladd said.
Ladd is drawn in to help go find people and get them out of situations they are in. Over the years Ladd has made many close friends that have come and gone, but you really can’t help but make friendships through a community like SAR.
We truly appreciate Ladd’s many years of dedicated service with the Iron County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team and look forward to many more with him!
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