Trail Signs Could Help in Emergency

There's a downside to getting away from the world for a while. If you need a little help getting back, the world might not be able to find you.

And you don't have to go very far, as a Vancouver couple learned this summer. Mike and Joanne Harris were enjoying a bike ride along the Salmon Creek Greenway trail when she had a sudden medical problem.

A fire station was less than two miles away, and a 911 dispatcher was on the line, ready to send help. Then things got complicated: There are no addresses on a trail.

"The 911 dispatcher was having difficulty understanding where we were," Mike Harris said. "We weren't on a street with a cross street reference. I was trying to explain the trail we were on, approximately where we were at, and we weren't communicating. It almost would have been faster for me to have ridden to the fire station.

"It was no fault of the dispatcher," Harris added. "I knew exactly where I was, but if there isn't a street for a cross reference, it's hard to direct people where to go."

The 911 dispatcher was able to send help and everything did work out fine, Mike Harris said.

The call accomplished something else. It pointed out a gap in the local emergency-response system, said Anna Pendergrass, operations manager of the regional 911 center.

She listened to a replay of the conversation. "On the tape, you could hear the frustration in both voices," Pendergrass said.

In talking with other dispatchers, Pendergrass learned about a similar rescue assignment along the Discovery Trail.

"It was a rope rescue, and people actually had to drive in from each end of the trail because there was no marking," Pendergrass said.

Dave Seabrook of the Vancouver Fire Department had a similar experience after a small fire was reported by someone walking on the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail. But the actual location of the blaze literally was matter of guesswork.

"We took a guess and went in from one direction, and found it three-quarters of the way in, going 5 mph in a fire engine," the paramedic-firefighter said.

Some kids had set an anthill on fire ("Or the ants were playing with matches," Seabrook said) so it wasn't a catastrophic emergency.

"It would have been different if it had been a heart attack," Seabrook said.

Some joggers and cyclists can't even identify the path they're on, other than telling the dispatcher something like: "You know, the one with all those trees along the side."

"People call 911 and don't know the trail they're on, let alone where they are on it," said Tom Griffith, 911 center coordinator.

It will become even more of an issue as Clark County expands its network of trails, and "as more people use them," Griffith said.

The answer is a system of trail markers, Pendergrass said, "before something really bad happens."

"It's a wonderful idea," agrees Kelly Punteney, trail and greenspace developer for Vancouver and Clark County. "I'm totally for it."

Not only would it help out in an emergency, Punteney said, but "it would help people understand how far they've walked."

It certainly isn't a new idea.

"You can go to most cities, and there is good signage on their trails," Punteney said. "I was just in Bellingham, and saw some great markers there."

The Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation Department has posted a few markers along its trail network but does not have the money for a comprehensive sign program. Punteney hopes that will change.

"It just takes money. We haven't had it on the budget, but we will push to have resources available. There is a lot of competition, but when you talk about health and safety, that gives it a higher priority," Punteney said.

There's been another problem with the few signs that have been posted on Clark County's trail system.

"We've lost them," Punteney said. "Kids like to put trail signs in their bedrooms."