Northern Michigan emergency crews trained, equipped to aid
ALPENA >> “Don’t think your cell phone is going to get you out of trouble,” said Sgt. Mike Mshar, law enforcement division supervisor for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “Because it’s not.”
Every year, DNR conservation officers and other emergency crews have to rescue people who have gotten lost or in trouble but can’t tell anyone because they don’t have adequate cell phone coverage, can’t direct first responders to them because they don’t know where they are, or are hard to reach because they’re deep in the woods or on a frozen lake.
Up North rescue crews are equipped with the gear and training needed to help people in distress, even when woods, snowdrifts, or sinkholes get in the way, officials said.
First, though, responders have to find the person who needs help — and that, in a rural area with incomplete cell phone coverage, can be a tricky task.
“For being 2021, and as tech-advanced as we are, coverage is terrible in rural areas,” Mshar told The Alpena News.
Dead zones for cell coverage pimple northern Michigan, said Mshar, rattling off a list of pockets where even his conservation officers can’t make phone calls while on patrol.
“Northwest of Atlanta,” Mshar said. “South of Atlanta, all the way down to the county line. West almost to Lewiston. There’s no cell phone service. Zero.”
Those dead zones are the same areas where people come to hunt, snowmobile, ride off-road vehicles, and ice fish, he said.
Every year, conservation officers get calls from people who need help but had to walk through woods or another unfamiliar setting until they could pick up a cell signal, often getting more lost in the process.