Border Patrol again assists in rescue

For the second time in a week, Border Patrol agents again assisted in rescuing some lost rafters.

The assistance to the Glacier County Sheriff’s Office illustrates a main topic at a Senate field hearing in Havre July 12: the need for and increasing occurrence of agencies working together.

Border Patrol agents from Shelby used a thermal imaging device to locate three rafters lost on Cut Bank Creek July 17.

Last Saturday at 1 a.m., Glacier County law enforcement again requested assistance locating three lost rafters, Border Patrol said in a press release.

Agents from the Shelby and Sweetgrass patrol stations, and a helicopter from Customs and Border Protection’s Great Falls Air Branch, responded and at about 8 a.m. located the three rafters on the creek.

With the air unit’s help, Glacier County sheriff’s deputies and Border Patrol agents on the ground reached the group and escorted them to safety.

The three women were treated for minor dehydration and heat exhaustion by Glacier County emergency medical services personnel.

At the field hearing conducted in Havre by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and attended by Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., a common theme was the need for federal, state and local agencies to work together to secure the border and promote legal traffic and trade, and also to provide emergency and law enforcement services in the area.

Border Patrol Havre Sector Chief Patrol Agent Christopher Richards said Saturday’s efforts illustrate the increased cooperation that already has grown between agencies.

“The partnerships that have developed between the Border Patrol and local communities facilitate not only rescue operations such as these, but also increase our ability to secure our borders and keep our communities safe,” Richards said in the press release.

Both sets of rescues were for rafters who had not arrived at their destination after floating down Cut Bank Creek. At the Senate hearing, Blackfeet Nation Disaster and Emergency Services Director Robert DesRosier said a similar interagency rescue had happened in June, with National Park Services personnel rescuing three young women stranded on a mountaintop in the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Glacier County.