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The Cairo Rural Volunteer Fire Department and Quick Response Team banded together for a joint search and rescue simulation exercise this past week. Twenty-one volunteers gathered together after dark to search for two people in the underbrush and dense trees near the Loup River … an area known for canoeing, swimming, hunting (in season), and other recreational activities. Equipped with radios, flashlights, and portable thermal- imaging cameras, the group organized into two teams to search the (roughly) 40 acres of virgin river bottom, looking for the two “victims.” A grid was developed, a process established to avoid duplication, and in less than an hour the teams were successful! The lost were found. The two teams then mustered in their headquarters to discuss the experience and made notes of the successes, mistakes, and refinements of the evening. The consensus of the group was that the experience was very valuable and will be repeated at a later date. CRVFD and QRT are very grateful to the owners of the property for permission for the event to take place. (—courtesy photo)

Weathering three basketball contests last week, the Wood River boys basketball team recorded two wins and one loss on the hardwood. The Eagles were bested by Amherst in Wood River on Tuesday, January 6, by a 39-63 score and went on to post a 48-42 home court win over Arcadia/Loup City on Thursday, January 8, and overcame an early Bluejay lead to pick up a 59-53 win over Ravenna on the Bluejays’ home court on Friday, January 9.

Despite outstanding effort on the court, wins eluded the Gibbon girls basketball team last week as they fell victim to visiting Ord on Friday, January 9, by a 23-55 score, and were defeated on Saturday, January 10, on the road at Kenesaw, 28-45.