SHOSHONE COUNTY, Idaho - The Shoshone County Sheriff's Office received a report of an overdue snowmobiler near Murray, Idaho.
Lester Allert, a 62-yar-old male from Chewelah was separated from his group while riding along a ridge near Bloom Peak. Several people from the group continued looking for Lester while 4 rode out to the trail head.
Law Enforcement officers from the Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Forest Service responded.
The U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida provided assistance requesting a helicopter with FLIR. The 36th Rescue Flight from Fairchild Air Force Base accepted the mission and launched a helicopter to aid in the search. While the helicopter was en-route, Lester was found and was in good health.
During the search for Lester, a second overdue snowmobiler was reported near Wallace. 50-year-old Kevin Gouin of Spokane did not return to meet his friend near Placer Creek after 5 hours. Searchers refocused their search from Lester to Gouin.
Gouin was found in good health and was estimated to have walked 10 miles to Avery.
This year their have been six searches with a total of eight saves.
The Shoshone County Sheriff's Office would like to remind everyone to be prepared to spend an inconvenient night out when recreating outdoors. Winter weather makes searches and rescue that may seem simple, tough very quickly. Modern rescue methods can quickly become unavailable or too dangerous to use this time of year. A personal locator beacon is highly recommended. The better prepared you are the more comfortable you will be while waiting for rescue.
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