On the evening of August 6, 2022, Cumberland Co. E-911 received a call from a lost female in the area of Catoosa WMA. The female was very distraught and was unable to give much detail as to her location, condition, or events leading up to her call for help. When operators attempted to call the phone back for more information, the calls went straight to voicemail as of the phone battery was dead or out of signal.

Cumberland Co. Sheriff’s Office, Cumberland Co. Rescue Squad, and Crossville/Cumberland EMA we’re dispatched to the area and a Command Post was established at the Hebbertsburg Fire Dept.

As the night progressed more information became available leading to the need to expand the scene and a Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter was requested as well and personnel from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency who responded to the scene to assist.

In the early morning hours just before sunrise, the THP helicopter located the missing female and kept visual on her location while ground crews from Cumberland County Rescue Squad and Cumberland County EMS were sent to her location to remove her from the Daddy’s Creek gorge. A very hazardous area by water or ground.

Upon contact with the female, it was determined that she was not injured, but that she had set off the previous evening with a male companion to float the river in tubes, had gotten separated, and the male was still missing in the wilderness.

Immediately more resources and manpower were requested from Fentress Co. Rescue Squad, White Co. Rescue Squad, Christian Aid Ministries, continued air support from Knox Co. Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit, and communications support from Putnam Co. Homeland Security Comms Team due to the size of the potential search and exhaustion from the overnight search on our local personnel.

The male subject was found safely around noon on August 7, assessed by EMS, and was returned home.

All units were accounted for and returned to service around 2 p.m. and the command post was terminated.