Lost fire fighter body found

Lost firefighter/paramedic Michael Herdman’s body was found and recovered this morning, Friday, June 27. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department found Herdman in rugged terrain approximately 1200 feet above the Sespe River outside of Fillmore, Ca., according to a statement late Friday from the Arcadia Fire Department. “We’re glad that he was found, but at the same time we’re sad that we lost a family member,” said Arcadia Fire Chief Kurt Norwood.

Michael Herdman

Herdman’s body was found three-quarters of a mile and 400 yards above where he disappeared, according to Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean. Searchers had not scoured that area because authorities did not think the elite athlete and experienced backpacker could have made it there without shoes or any gear. The body was found when a pilot and search crew flew over the area and noticed “something that didn’t belong” in the rugged terrain below, according to The Los Angeles Times. The body was airlifted to a medical examiner’s office, where the identity was confirmed using dental records. Authorities say there is no evidence of foul play but the cause of death will not be known until an autopsy is performed.

Herdman and fellow firefighter/paramedic friend Taylor Byars were halfway through a four-day off-duty hike in the Los Padres National Forest two weeks ago (Friday, June 13) when they became separated. As previously reported, 36 year-old Herdman, a seven-year veteran of the Arcadia Fire Department, a husband and father of a young daughter, had apparently left the camp after dark in his bare feet, shorts and a T-shirt to chase after his black lab dog, which had run from the camp.

When Herdman had still not returned the following morning, Byars, who was unfamiliar with the terrain and trails, went looking for him all day Saturday, June 14, and spent another night in the canyon. On Sunday, Byars was found by a pair of fishermen dehydrated, disheveled and disoriented. He notified authorities that evening, June 15, 2014, which triggered an intense and multi-agency search for nearly a week that included the Ventura County Sheriff and Fire Department and hundreds of volunteer Search and Rescue personnel that drew national attention before being scaled back last weekend.

The dog, Duke, was spotted several times during the days of the search and was finally caught Sunday, June 22, when a hiker found him in the parking lot where Herdman’s car was parked at a trail head 14 miles from Duke had first been spotted wandering in the wilderness and 12 miles from Herdman’s camp site along a river bottom in woods outside the city of Fillmore. Authorities described the dog as dehydrated and exhausted.

Herdman was an experienced camper who had been camping off-duty in the area multiple times. It was Byars first hike in the area.

During a Friday press conference, Dean said he could not overstate how difficult and dangerous the backcountry is where Herdman disappeared. Rescuers have been treated for heat exhaustion and injuries from rock slides. Fillmore Fire Department Asst. Chief Bill Herrera was bitten by a rattlesnake and is being treated in an intensive care unit after needing 52 vials of antivenin to survive. Mountain lions and bears scour the terrain, which is rife with thousand-pound boulders, hidden crevices and chest-high brush. Crews searched 20 miles along Sespe Creek and 50 square miles around it, Dean said. The effort included about half a dozen sheriff’s departments, a team of special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security and two unmanned drones. In total, crew members have spent more than 4,600 hours searching for Herdman, Dean said.

Herdman’s body was difficult to spot against the terrain and was covered up by brush, authorities said.

— By Scott Hettrick