PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Skamania County Sheriff's Office is warning about a "continued unprecedented rise" in search and rescue missions amid concerns over funding these rescues.
In an August 15 Facebook post, the Sheriff's Office said the county saw a 200% increase in search and rescue missions -- with Sheriff Summer Scheyer telling KOIN 6 News on Monday that the county saw four rescues in July 2024 compared to 12 rescues in July 2025.
“Despite repeated messaging on social and mainstream media, we continue to see this exorbitant number of search and rescue missions in our county,” Sheriff Scheyer said in a statement.
According to the Washington State Emergency Management Division, the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office is not the only agency seeing this trend, authorities noted.
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