NO SIGN YET OF MISSING FIREFIGHTER TOKEN ADAMS, SO SEARCH CREWS ARE BACK IN THE SANTA FE NATIONAL FOREST LOOKING FOR HIM. SEARCH EFFORTS ARE HAMPERED BY STEEP, RUGGED, TERRAIN. BUT SEARCH TEAMS ARE OPTIMISTIC THEY'LL FIND THE 41 YEAR OLD ADAMS, WHO'S BEEN MISSING SINCE FRIDAY.
ARLENE PEREA WITH THE INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM SAYS THEY CAN'T EVEN SPECULATE AS TO WHAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED TO HIM. SHE SAYS THEY KNOW HE WAS ON AN ATV IN ROUGH, RUGGED TERRAIN. BUT ASIDE FROM THAT, PEREA SAYS THEY HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING IF ADAMS HAD A MEDICAL EPISODE OR AN ACCIDENT ON THE ATV.
TEAMS HAD TO SUSPEND THE SEARCH FOR ABOUT AN HOUR MONDAY DUE TO A BIG STORM THAT BROUGHT HEAVY RAIN AND HAIL TO THE SEARCH AREA. TUESDAY'S SEARCH BROUGHT ADDITIONAL PEOPLE IN, INCREASING THE NUMBER OF SEARCHERS FROM 100 ON MONDAY TO MORE THAN 250 ON TUESDAY. FOREST SERVICE SPOKESPERSON KAREN TAKAI SAYS ABOUT 140 SEARCHERS WILL BE ON THE GROUND ON WEDNESDAY.
