Search & Rescue

Ski patrollers at Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood rescued a dog from a deep ravine last week that had been missing for 13 days.

Otis, who’s described as a friendly Bernese Mountain Dog who loves snacks, was reported missing on Dec. 17 from his home in Girdwood on Crystal Mountain Road.

Then, on Dec. 29, an Alyeska staff member heard a faint bark as they were heading up the Ted’s Express lift for an early morning shift, said Bayne Salmon, mountain communications manager.

“Later that day, another patroller on staff heard another bark while they were heading up the same chair lift, and upon further review, looked into the canyon and noticed a brown, fuzzy dog deep in the canyon,” Salmon said.

Salmon said a team of five patrollers grabbed rescue gear, found an entrance to the ravine, and — after coaxing Otis with treats — were able to harness him and lift him out. The dog then walked down to the aid room with his tail wagging, Salmon said. Otis got water and lots of love from his rescuers.

Salmon said ski patrollers weren’t professionally involved with locating Otis but stepped in to help with his rescue. He said the team was ecstatic to find the dog after multiple days of below-freezing temperatures.

“It’s really positive, you know, jovial,” he said. “Everyone was thrilled to find him and [it’s] just hard to believe how long Otis had been out there, and to find him in good condition was a miracle, truly.”

Instances like this are unusual because dogs aren’t allowed on the ski hill in the winter, Salmon said.

The spot Otis was found in is extremely steep, technical terrain. From start to finish, he said the rescue took about two hours. Salmon wasn’t directly involved in this rescue, but he said it sounds like Otis was a good patient.

“He was not enthusiastic about wearing the dog evac harness, but I think his exhaustion from his long, cold adventure led him to mostly just be still and calm as we raised him out of the canyon,” Salmon said. “Overall, he’s a good boy.”

Salmon said he’s heard Otis lost some weight, but is happy to be back home.

This article was reported and published in collaboration between the Chilkat Valley News and the Alaska Beacon.

Skagway’s former paramedic is alleging wrongdoing by the Southeast Alaska town, saying in a newly filed lawsuit that she was illegally fired after submitting a grievance against the city’s fire chief and deputy fire chief.

In a lawsuit filed Nov. 20 at Juneau Superior Court, Samantha Philemon — the town’s lone licensed paramedic for much of her employment since 2023 — alleges she was fired due to disputes over recordkeeping and the department’s decision to purchase an all-terrain vehicle known as an Argo.

According to Philemon’s complaint, at the time of her firing, Skagway officials said she was being let go due to violations of HIPAA, the federal medical-privacy law. Philemon’s attorney says in the complaint that the accusation “was a sham.”

Philemon filed a formal complaint against the chief and deputy and was fired by Skagway’s deputy borough administrator the day after the complaint was resolved.

“We’re excited to have our day in court, so to speak, and we think that a jury who hears Sam’s story is going to do the right thing and understand what happened here, and we’re just looking for this to never happen again,” said her attorney, Miye D’Oench of the Anchorage-based Northern Justice Project.

Philemon said her firing has left Skagway, a town of roughly 1,100 year-round residents, without a trained paramedic.

“There are firefighters with EMT 1 and EMT 2 and some (EMT) 3 training, but there are no paramedics, and that harms the community because paramedics are trained and licensed to do things that EMTs are not,” she said.

Neither Fire Chief Emily Rauscher nor Borough Manager Emily Deach responded to requests for an interview that would allow them to respond to Philemon’s complaint.

The borough denied a public records request by the Chilkat Valley News. Robert Blasco, the city’s hired attorney, did not return messages left at his office on Friday and Monday.

Philemon moved from Mississippi to Skagway in 2023, she said, and enjoyed working with the department at first.

“I wanted to be between the mountains and the ocean,” she said.

According to the complaint, she encouraged a friend to work for the department this past summer, but when he arrived, he was told his position had funding for only one week. Philemon believed that was because the department had recently purchased an Argo.

When she raised the issue, according to the complaint, “Rauscher and Mead then turned on Ms. Philemon,” and “began silencing and excluding her from department business.” There were additional disputes about medical procedures performed by the fire department and accounting at the department..

Philemon submitted a formal grievance to the borough manager in July. The manager, Emily Deach, said in an August memo that Skagway “will take action to address the behavior and prevent reoccurrence” as well as take steps toward formalizing fire department training.

“The actions of the department supervisors do not require termination of those supervisors, as

you requested verbally,” Deach wrote to Philemon.

Philemon, who had been placed on administrative leave while the grievance was investigated, was ordered to return to work under a separate plan. She objected, concerned that she would be returning to work under the same supervisors and conditions as before, and appealed to a committee that included the Skagway Mayor.

The committee upheld Deach’s work on Sept. 10. Philemon planned to return to work, but the deputy borough manager fired her the following day.

Philemon said she’s been looking for work since then but hasn’t found success.

“I’m looking for a new job after being fired from a job that I never wanted to leave. I’m devastated because I love my job, and I love Skagway,” Philemon said.

Online court records show the case has been referred to Judge Amy Welch. No additional proceedings have yet been scheduled.

An Italian man is missing after falling into a hole in the ice on the Mendenhall Glacier on Tuesday. Juneau search and rescue responders have called off the search.

The Alaska State Troopers have not named the man and are working to connect with his family. 

According to troopers, the man was on the glacier Tuesday afternoon with two travel companions. Troopers did not say where on the glacier they were, but a dispatch says the man initially fell into a stream and was pushed by the rushing water into the hole in the ice. The people with him said they couldn’t see him after that. 

Juneau Mountain Rescue attempted to locate him, but found the hole was filled with rushing water. They decided it would be too dangerous to try to locate the man.

At least three people have died in the backcountry around Juneau this summer. On Saturday, an Arizona resident was reported missing and his body was discovered on Monday near the Mendenhall Glacier. He is believed to have died from injuries suffered during a fall.  

This story has been updated to reflect that officials did not say why the man was on the glacier. 

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a pilot after his small plane crashed near Haines on Sunday.

Chief Petty Officer Travis Magee told KCAW that around 8:30 a.m. the Coast Guard received a signal from the emergency locator transmitter of a two seat, single engine airplane over the Chilkat Range, approximately 35 miles south of Haines.

“The Coast Guard reached out to the Haines airport, who confirmed that there was an aircraft matching that description to the two seat, single engine airplane that had departed earlier that morning, but it had not returned,” said Magee.

Around 10:30 a.m., a 5-person helicopter crew from Air Station Sitka located the pilot and overturned aircraft near the Endicott River. Magee said the pilot walked away from the accident unscathed.

“So we’re very thankful that this case resulted in the way that it did, with this individual having no reported back injuries,” said Magee.

The helicopter crew transported the pilot to the Juneau airport. The pilot met with emergency medical services, but he did not request any assistance from them, and was released shortly afterwards.

This is a developing story and may be updated. 

Two people were rescued uninjured Monday afternoon after their small plane crashed near the Katzehin River flats outside Haines.

The U.S. Coast Guard was notified around 4 p.m. Monday that a plane had gone down near the Chilkoot Inlet, just south of Haines.

The control center dispatched a helicopter air crew from Sitka and a boat from Juneau. Shortly thereafter the Coast Guard made contact with the two people, who reported that they were on land and uninjured.

Travis Magee, a public affairs specialist with the Coast Guard, said the aircraft crew called for help when they were not able to take off again.

“They also reported that, at the time of the incident, they were attempting to land, but they had hit or struck a log, and they were unable to relaunch the aircraft,” he said.

Magee said he could not provide additional information about the aircraft. But he said the Coast Guard helicopter arrived on scene around 6 p.m. and brought both people to Juneau.

EMS personnel were waiting in Juneau to provide medical care, which Magee said was precautionary.

A 35-year-old woman has died after the vessel she was on capsized Sunday near Sitka, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard is investigating the accident and has not yet released her name.

At about 5 p.m. Sunday, Air Station Sitka received reports of a capsized skiff and an overturned kayak in the Redoubt Bay area, each with one person on board. A Coast Guard helicopter crew, an emergency response vessel from the Sitka Fire Department, and several nearby boaters responded to the calls that came in over VHF radio.

In an email to KCAW, Coast Guard public affairs officer John Hightower said the man operating the skiff, which was a Boston Whaler, was rescued by a nearby good Samaritan boater — he was taken to emergency responders who were waiting on shore in Sitka.

Hightower said the woman was recovered from the water by another good Samaritan. She was then transferred to the Sitka Fire Department vessel, and the Coast Guard helicopter crew lowered a rescue swimmer onto the boat to help with medical treatment while they headed back to town.

Fire Chief Craig Warren said the crew made it back to Sitka shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday, where an ambulance was waiting to take the unresponsive woman to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center. Hightower said she was pronounced dead at the hospital. He said the woman’s next of kin have been notified.