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| Thursday, Jun 19, 2014
 
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Video: L.A. County Sheriff's Department

[KHTS] – The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team is one of several groups seeking an off-duty Arcadia firefighter who disappeared Friday in the Fillmore area, officials said Thursday.

Mike Herdman, 36, an experienced hiker, was in the Fillmore area of the Los Padres National Forest and separated from his friend, another off-duty firefighter with whom he was camping.

“They were intending on going on a four-day backpacking trip (Friday),” said Sgt. Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. “By Friday night, Mike Herdman’s dog took off running down a creek.”

Herdman took off barefoot, without his pack, to chase down his dog, according to his friend who was a less-experienced hiker, Buschow said.

The friend eventually headed back to safety after not hearing from Herdman, Buschow said.

“The other gentleman was able to walk out, but it took him two days (to get from their campsite),” Buschow said. The lost hiker who made his way back was not identified by Sheriff’s Department officials.

He encountered two fisherman on his way out who told officials they probably saved the man’s life, because he was dehydrated and exhausted when he found them Sunday.

The incident was reported to the Sheriff’s Department after the lost hiker was able to attain cellphone service.

By Thursday morning, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue Teams were joined by volunteer search team deputies from Santa Clarita Valley, San Luis Obispo, Crescenta Valley and even the Department of Homeland Security.

The federal agency used unmanned drone aircraft to search the area for Herdman.

The rescue effort spotted the dog Wednesday, said Tony Buttita, a member of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station’s Search and Rescue Team.

However, the dog was “skittish,” he said, and ran away when approached.

Herdman’s wife was on scene Wednesday, and officials hoped she might be able to help relocate the dog, and subsequently, Herdman.

“From where I stand, at the command post, it’s a two-day walk just to get where he disappeared,” Buschow said, adding that while the location was remote, temperatures were relatively mild and there was a water supply in the area. “We’re inserting teams in places where he was last seen — we’re helicoptering them in, or the search would take forever.”

Sheriff’s Station officials continue to search the area as of noon Thursday.

The volunteers and deputies are trying to remain optimistic and focused on the search, said Buttita, a 14-year member of the Search and Rescue Team.

“This guy is kind of young,” he said. “and I’ve seen miracles.”

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11 Comments

  1. Praying for him to be found!

  2. I hope they find him soon.

  3. Jim Oge Jr says:

    Would like to offer our jeeps for transport or going deeper in the forest.

  4. Unfortunately they haven’t found him but they did come across his dog.

  5. I pray for his safe return and his pup

  6. Dorene Tapp says:

    Praying that he will be found soon.

  7. Denice Olsen says:

    I’m wondering if their is some foul play..many days have passed by and no clues from him, no markers made by him.. Just something doesn’t seem right. I hope I am wrong. His family is going through hell :/

  8. Thomas Elsbury says:

    Our Fish and Wildlife have over-hunted California’s deer for decades by hunting them during their rutting cycle when they have only one thing on their mind. On top of that they stopped the hunting of their natural enemy: Mountain lions. Thus there are now over 5,000 in Ca. where there was only 500 thirty years ago Topping that this is the time of year female lions are raising their cubs. They too are instilled with motherly love like most people and will do anything to keep their offspring from starving. Once they kill a human their first instinct is to cart the body back to the cave their cubs are secluded in. Thus the body is never found. Wildlife Biologist TJ Elsbury.

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