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Big Four Ice Caves to Close for Exercise June 9^th

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 31, 2018

CONTACT:  Colton Whitworth, Public Affairs Specialist, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, coltonwhitworth@fs.fed.us, 425-530-8285

Shari Ireton, Director of Communications, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, shari.ireton@snoco.org, 425-388-3377, Media line: 425-249-6263

GRANITE FALLS, Wash. – The Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Unit and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) will conduct an incident response exercise at the Big Four Ice Caves Saturday, June 9. As a result, access to the Ice Caves west and east parking lots will be limited and/or restricted from the afternoon of Friday, June 8 through 6 p.m. Saturday, June 9. The exercise will take place at the Ice Caves between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday and will include participants from USFS, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, five Snohomish County Fire agencies, Snohomish County Fire Technical Rescue Team, Airlift Northwest, and SNOPAC.  There will be several aircraft in the area, including SnoHAWK10, SnoHAWK1, and Airlift 6, from Airlift Northwest, for the exercise.

The main goal of the exercise is to coordinate and rehearse a multi-agency response to injuries and/or fatalities at the Big Four Ice Caves while maintaining the safety of responding personnel for both air and ground operations.  Benefits to all participating agencies and volunteers include better preparedness and coordination during emergency events or critical incidents in the area.

Any media who wish to attend must contact a Public Information Officer (listed above) no later than Thursday, June 7.

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