Chelan County Sheriff’s Office Acquires Four New Snowmobiles

The Chelan County Sheriff's Office is celebrating the arrival of four new snowmobiles.

Sheriff Mike Morrison says the vehicles are an important part of his office's fleet of terrestrial, marine, and aerial craft which are used for various purposes, primarily search-and-rescue missions.

"We're required by state law to oversee all search-and-rescues, and we have some unique terrain in Chelan County and it's tough to get to some of these locations, so we do need dirt bikes, quads, side-by-sides, personal watercraft, boats, helicopters, and snowmobiles. These are necessary pieces of equipment, and I've heard from some members of our agency asking 'why are we investing so much money into pieces of equipment that we're only using a couple times a year?' And my answer is, when you need them, it's a lot better than walking twenty-five miles into the backcountry to rescue patients and provide the service that we're required to provide as a sheriff's office."

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Morrison says the snowmobiles are the latest additions in an attempt to update the Sheriff's Office's extended motor pool.

"Over the last couple of years, we've updated our quads and brought in two new side-by-sides, and we just brought on four new snowmobiles. We have three that I would describe as being more utilitarian ones which are set up to tow toboggans, perform patient rescues, and we also got a mountain sled."

Three of the snowmobiles are brand new according to Morrison, while the mountain sled is a well-maintained pre-owned vehicle with about 800 hours of use. Morrison says the four additions are replacing several which were beyond their lifespan without needing costly ongoing repairs.

Meanwhile, Morrison says his efforts to procure funding from the state legislature to replace the Sheriff's Office's two helicopters and its largest marine vessel which serves the upper part of Lake Chelan, have been unsuccessful - leaving he and his staff in what he calls an "interesting predicament," since the helicopters will soon time out of service.

The Sheriff's Office does accept private donations of new and pre-owned vehicles for its fleets, and Morrison is putting out a call for such contributions since he says "money's tight," and adds, "I'm going to keep doing what I can to make sure that we have the best equipment possible. I'll keep putting my hand out begging for money from the state and the feds to make sure Chelan County gets what it deserves."