DART members supported the 57^th Annual Conejo Valley Days providing Community Education, First Aid, and Missing Persons support.  The event was held at Conejo Creek South from Thursday 01 May through Sunday 05 May.  In addition to the Carnival Events, additional activities included “Special Kids” day as well as Five Kilometer and One Mile Fun Runs.

This year’s support of CVD proved to be challenging due to changes to site location and extreme winds that occurred during the morning prior to the first day of the carnival.  Members were called to assess, tear-down, cleanup, and repair equipment due to the damage that was experienced.  As winds continued throughout the day and into the Family Night event, the site operated from the only the trailer and DART Truck limiting our support to only First Aid and Missing Persons.

Winds subsided throughout the day Friday although heavy smoke and ash from the “Spring Fire” laid of blanket of unhealthy atmosphere over Conejo Creek.  The air cleared throughout the evening.  The first shift for the Friday Teen Night reconstructed the site with repaired canopies and equipment.  Full support was established by the middle of the first shift.

Saturday proved to be warm throughout the day although the evening cooled.  The attendance seemed to be less than experienced in previous years probably attributed to the worsening condition of the Spring Fire.

Sunday was a contrast to Saturday as cooler temperatures and occasional rain was experienced throughout the day.  Tear-down and packing of equipment and supplies was initiated approximately one hour prior to the conclusion of the event which proved to be wise as rain became heavy as the truck and trailer exited Conejo Creek.

In summary, DART provided excellent support through demanding conditions and circumstances.  Event organizers and Sheriff Department personnel visited our site and expressed their appreciation throughout the weekend.  Our support was a vital element to the success of Conejo Valley Days 2013.

Summary of Statistics:

Medical Incidents

The big mega-event has finally arrived, but this year, mother nature has thrown a curve ball. We anticipated the heat, but in conjunction with a fire that ravaged through Newbury Park, Mother Nature took vengeance on our Conejo Valley Days booth.

Our CVD Site experienced dishevel and damage due to the winds.  Following an advisory from the CVD Site Manager through Sergeant Hatlee, four us attempted to conduct damage control and tear down of particular areas of the site.  We experienced damage to one of the canopies as well as the trailer awning. 
– Dave Coe, DART Operations

With that said, the show must go on!

Please make sure you are VERY hydrated for this event as the high winds and dry heat are a breeding ground for dehydration related issues.

What do you get when you mix a hot day, a couple dozen classic cars and more chili than a mortal human can eat in a day? A lot of fun and a lot of… boots…

The 2013 Rotary Club Chili cookoff, often called the precursor to the juggernaut “Conejo Valley Days” held its own with over 10,000 people, two live stages, and more chili than you can shake a spoon at.

Luckily for the DART team,

the only thing we had to deal with were a lot of blisters (walking) and a few dehydration incidents, and lots of sunburns.

The event gave us a good birds eye view of whats to come this week with Conejo Valley Days.

Keep safe, don’t drink and drive, and have fun!

Undoubtedly one of our favorite events to serve, the Thousand Oaks D.A.R.T. team was on hand at the Arbor Earth Day Festival for First Aid and Community Service deployments. Fortunately there was very little on the First Aid front, except for a couple of bruises and a set up injuries, which allowed out staff to concentrate on disaster preparedness and general education.

The event, as usual had a tremendous turnout with representatives from the Sheriff’s K9 division doing demonstrations, various seminars on conservation and recycling and as always a LOT of music and great food.

Definitely another GREAT event in our community that should be watched for and planned on for next years calendar. For more details go >HERE<.

DART Team members assisted the Ventura County Sheriff Department in a search for two missing “At Risk Teenagers”.  The teens were reported missing at 1:15 AM Thursday, 04 April.  Both teens left letters indicating a threat of suicide which increased the priority of search efforts.  The DART Team received request to assist in the search effort at 2:15 AM.  Search and Rescue resources were limited as the East County SAR Team was assisting Riverside SAR in the search of two hikers.

Team members responded to the Dover and Hendrix Community Park where search of the park, botanical gardens, and surrounding hillside was conducted based on a scent that was established by a tracking dog.  The scent seemed to diminish and was considered to be an older track from a visit prior to the evening.

The team was redeployed to Acorn Acres Community Park and conducted search of the park area and adjacent school and church.  An additional search was conducted at Redwood Middle School covering the athletic fields and campus buildings with support of a tracking dog.  No evidence of a scent was detected, and the search did not reveal any results.

At this point, based on a scent established by a tracking dog from one of the teen’s home led to the Wildwood Park area.  Additional Search and Rescue support was gathered from the East County, Fillmore, and Ojai SAR Teams.  An extensive search of the entire Wildwood Park area (1750 acres) as well as adjoining neighborhoods, trails, and flood control channels was conducted throughout the day.  Many of the trails required aggressive climbs with marginal footholds.  The search focused in attempting to find the missing teenagers, or any evidence of freshly discarded trash or food.  The search effort concluded at 4:00 PM as the Sheriff Department concluded that the teens were not in the search area based on this extensive search.  Team members had conducted hiking of over 13 hours.  Our team Liaison, Tim Lohman, was the Public Information Officer for the search conducting interviews with several television and radio stations.  Video and pictures of some of the team members conducting the search were presented in the Ventura County Star and ABC news.

Fortunately the teens were seen by a citizen the following day in a Newbury Park mobile home park.  They were reunited safe and unharmed with their parents and interviewed with deputies and counselors at the East County Sheriff Station.