Found Deceased WA - Jay Schreckengost, 56, near Cliffdell, 2 Nov 2021 *vehicle found*

[PommyMommy]

More than 100 people involved with search for missing Seattle deputy fire chief near Cliffdell | Local | yakimaherald.com
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Jay Schreckengost, 56, has been missing since Tuesday, when he went out to scout for elk, according to the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office.

Searchers found Schreckengost’s truck on a U.S. Forest Service Road north of State Route 410 in Kittitas County, Kittitas County sheriff’s Inspector Chris Whitsett. He and Kristin Tinsley, a public information officer for the Seattle Fire Department, said the effort is considered a rescue operation given Schreckengost’s extensive outdoors experience.

The search was centered about 3 miles north of Whistlin’ Jack Lodge on Saturday in rugged terrain. Conditions were rainy with some snow.

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[PommyMommy]

Search continues for Seattle Fire deputy chief missing in Eastern Washington (mynorthwest.com)

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Schreckengost was last seen at the Squaw Rock RV Resort and Campground in Naches, where he stayed to go hunting, according to family.

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“He did text his wife, says I’m going to go hunting and I’ll talk to you later and she hadn’t heard from him since after that,” said Casey Schilperoort with the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office.

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Schilperoort said they knew something was wrong when his truck was found up the road from where he was last seen on State Route 410.

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An area around the truck has become the epicenter for the search and rescue operation.

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There are seven search and rescue crews, four K-9 teams, drones and infrared technology being used in the search.

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“Not only do we have to fight the weather, the cold, the wind and the rain, and of course it had been snowing up there just a little bit. But then it takes a toll on all of the folks that are up there trying to search for him,” Schilperoort said.

Schreckengost’s family is also over at the site with search and rescue crews trying to find their loved one.

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[Unsolved]

Prayers for Chief Schreckengost. With some searchers asking that no untrained people attempt some areas it sounds like rough terrain to go over and I hope everyone stays safe.

 

[Fleur-de-lis]

I lived in the PNW before. I don't think people who have not lived there understand the blackberries and raspberries. The thickness and height of trees. It's crazy. It makes thickets like you cannot believe. If someone were to fall in a gully, which are everywhere it seemed, they might not be able to be seen at all due to the raspberry and blackberry and salmonberry and wild rose canes. I'm really worried for this guy.

 

[PommyMommy]

NOV 4, 2021
Kittitas County Sheriff | Facebook

... Chief Schreckengost texted his family he would be elk hunting in the area when he left his rented cabin near SR 410 on Tuesday, 11/2; but they didn’t receive notification of his return to the cabin that night. The area where Chief Schreckengost was staying and hunting is close to the boundary between Kittitas and Yakima counties; his family notified the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office he hadn’t returned. Yakima determined the area he was hunting in was in Kittitas County, and both Sheriff’s Offices now have resources committed to the search.

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[PommyMommy]

NOV 6, 2021
'He is our friend, and he is a family member'; Search for missing Seattle firefighter ongoing (q13fox.com)
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Schreckengost is still missing, but it remains a rescue operation. Based off where he parked on the trail, officials say the search area is a large stretch of the surrounding area.

"It’s in square miles. It’s a big area, and regrettably, a simple statement of area doesn’t communicate, really, what it means out here," said inspector Chris Whitsett with the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office. "Because we’re at 5,000 feet, and the terrain behind us here—cliffs, trees, all of this—this is not atypical, this is representative of what it’s like for the three miles or five miles back in [there] that the searchers are working."

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"He’s not only a colleague to us," said Kristin Tinsley with Seattle Fire, "but he is our friend, and he is a family member of the Seattle Fire Department."

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"It’s extremely concerning," said inspector Chris Whitsett with KCSO. "When we have this kind of operation, we have to have a headcount."

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=854614128520361

 

[PommyMommy]

NOV 7, 2021
Day 6: Search continues for missing Seattle deputy fire chief | KIMA
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Kittitas County Sheriff's Office, leading the search says they're confident they'll find him.

Hundreds of search and rescue volunteers have poured in from several different counties, including dozens of fellow Seattle firefighters.

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On Wednesday, his family went to the area and found his truck. Kittitas County Inspector Chris Whitsett says that's where the search focuses primarily around, up forest service road 1705 which has been closed since Tuesday.

He says Schreckengost's cell phones were found in the truck.

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Whitsett says they've got dog teams, four by fours, drones and two helicopters helping to cover more ground.

"Search and rescue workers are equipped with GPS equipment," says Whitsett. "The state's SAR planning team that comes over from King County is actually able to enter into a computer tracks of where everybody's been so we have a map that's just increasingly dense, with all the plans that have been laid and how how those tracks fit into those plans."

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[cuffem]

Thank you! Pommy Mommy for posting this, I had been looking for his thread. I believe the area had received heavy rain last week, I sure hope he was prepared weather wise. I am thinking accident or medical issue.
I understand people like to go into the wilderness alone but it is too risky. Prayers for Jay that he is just lost and will be found.

 

[PommyMommy]

NOV 7, 2021
Crews search rugged terrain in Kittitas County for missing Seattle deputy fire chief | The Seattle Times
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Schreckengost, 56, has been with the Seattle Fire Department for 36 years. He worked his way up from the ranks of firefighter, and he now is a deputy chief in the Operations Division.

“The people up here that are searching are really invested in the search effort,” Tinsley said. “We’re not just colleagues with Jay, but we’re lifelong friends.”

He had been scouting the steep terrain for elk Tuesday, Whitsett said, and he planned to hunt there with his son the following day, Wednesday.

Crews were expected to continue the search during daylight hours Sunday, weather permitting.

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[moonriverfarm]

Let's pray he is hunkered down somewhere and will be found.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Drone teams, K9 units, search coordinators, and Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) helicopters are all pursuing Schreckengost’s safe return home. On Monday, an estimated 60 individuals are searching for the Deputy Fire Chief, who left his lodge to hunt on Nov. 2 and has not returned since.

Schreckengost’s truck was located near Cliffdell last Wednesday, which has served as the hub for this widescale search effort ever since. Family members located his truck on a forest service road and immediately reported him missing. Dispatchers from the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office have been evaluating tips from the community, which you can contribute by calling (509) 925-8534.
Cliffdell search for missing hiker cues family to ask for help - YakTriNews

 

[10ofRods]

Does anyone know what equipment he typically took?

All the best to the SAR teams working on this. I hope they can find him soon.

 

[PommyMommy]

NOV 8, 2021
Search continues for Seattle deputy fire chief who went missing while hunting in Cliffdell area | Local | yakimaherald.com
Searchers continued to comb the steep and heavily forested area of Cliffdell on Monday for Seattle Deputy Fire Chief Jay Schreckengost, who went missing last week while elk hunting.

They hope to find him before the first snow blankets the area, said Kittitas County Sheriff’s Inspector Chris Whitsett.

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Verizon and Team Mobile have set up mobile cell towers and WiFi stations to assist with the search, he said.

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[PommyMommy]

Does anyone know what equipment he typically took?

All the best to the SAR teams working on this. I hope they can find him soon.

I don't think anyone has said specifically what he took; just that he's an experienced hunter and equipped to handle the outdoors. Was he equipped to be out there for 6 days? Doubtful, IMO. He was just spotting, not hunting.

 

[10ofRods]

From what I can tell, from various sources, he expected it to be a day trip. Very sad. Such easy terrain to disappear in, via a fall or a medical incident.

 

[PommyMommy]

NOV 10, 2021
‘Holding out hope’: Search for missing Seattle deputy fire chief enters second week | The Seattle Times
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Search-and-rescue teams, including volunteers from Seattle, continue to look for a Seattle Fire Department deputy chief who vanished more than a week ago while hunting in Kittitas County.

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Searchers have spoken with several witnesses in the area who reported seeing a man who fits Schreckengost’s description, Whitsett said.

“We’re confident we’re looking in the right area,” he said.

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“We have plans to continue searching all week long until we find the chief,” Whitsett said. “We’re still working with the same urgency as last week.”

At least a half-dozen agencies on average continue to assist daily with search efforts, Whitsett said. They’re looking into several leads they’ve received from the public and are using computer mapping and modeling to build up an effective search plan, he added.

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“This is still a rescue effort, and we are still holding out hope,” she said. “We want to find him safe.”

 

[PommyMommy]

NOV 11, 2021
Still no sign of missing SFD deputy chief in Eastern Washington – KIRO 7 News
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After several long, strenuous days, the search for the missing deputy fire chief is straining resources and people. But everyone here says they believe it is just a matter of time until they find him. Their big worry is the weather, which is mostly fine now. But snow could come at any time.

Anyone with information that could aid in the search is asked to call Kittcom at 509-925-8534.

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He has worked with Jay Schreckengost for 25 of the 31 years the deputy chief has been with Seattle Fire Department. The frustration of not finding him after nearly a week is growing, even though he is missing in rugged, steep terrain.

“Because if something had gone wrong, Jay’s the kind of man who would have known what to do to help, take care of himself,” said Hotchkiss. “Create a shelter. Whatever it is.”

Those who know and love Deputy Fire Chief Schreckengost said he would also have the equipment to survive even in cold, mountainous conditions.

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[PommyMommy]

NOV 12, 2021
Searchers Employing Bluetooth Technology to Find Missing Seattle Fire Chief in Central Washington Wilderness | Local | bigcountrynewsconnection.com
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Crews deployed a drone equipped with a Bluetooth signal detector to pick up Scheckengost’s Fitbit device, Kittitas County Sheriff’s Inspector Chris Whitsett said Thursday.

As far as Whitsett knows, this is the first time that technology has been used in a search-and-rescue operation.

“We had one of the top rescue drone operators in the country in the room, and a technologist who worked for a major corporation in Bluetooth, and they came up with it on the fly,” Whitsett said.

He said the drone will be deployed again Friday in the rugged country near Cliffdell.

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[PommyMommy]

NOV 12, 2021
Search for missing Seattle Deputy Fire Chief enters eleventh day
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Whitsett said the search has shifted a bit since the start. In the first few days they were hoping to find the deputy chief responsive.

"After that time, you have to shift to the expectation that well if he could help himself get found, he would've gotten found by now," Whitsett said. "You're looking for somebody who can't, who is disabled, you have to look for someone who is unconscious or unable to participate as an active part of the search so you got to go a lot slower."

What he means by that, is the same ground has to be searched multiple times to make sure nothing was missed with different search techniques.

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The search base has now moved from Whistlin' Jacks Lodge over to the Gold Creek Saloon.

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Photo shows Seattle Fire Chief night before disappearing

Weather conditions haven’t helped in the search for the missing Seattle Fire Deputy Chief, Jay Schreckengost, but a new photo showing him the night before he disappeared in Kittitas County might.

The first image above was taken from the security camera at a convenience store where Schreckengost filled up his gas tank in Naches on November 1. ...

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Only individuals who are certified as Search & Rescue workers are joining the quest to bring Chief Schreckengost home by this point. The Kittitas County Sheriff’s office offered the following comments on the subject:

Our search coordinators are 100% occupied with this urgent search and cannot vet people at this time; and we simply can’t send people out in these conditions and this terrain without having first hand knowledge of their skills, condition, and abilities. We know this has frustrated some people, and we appreciate their grace and understanding.

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[PommyMommy]

I hate this. I was hoping for a miracle. Prayers for his family and loved ones.

Body of missing Seattle deputy fire chief found Sunday afternoon in Kittitas County | Columbia Basin | ifiberone.com

The body of missing Seattle Deputy Fire Chief Jay Schreckengost was found Sunday afternoon.

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Deputies say there is no preliminary evidence of suspicious activity or foul play. The Kittitas County coroner will complete an autopsy to determine a cause of death.

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Rest in peace, Chief.