Our Someone 2 Know this week has devoted his life to saving others. He retired as a captain with Sparks Fire Department a few years ago, and if running into burning buildings for 29 years isn't enough, Bill Macaulay is also a life-long volunteer for Washoe County Search and Rescue.
We meet up at Hunter Creek Trailhead in Reno, where many injured and stranded hikers have been saved – more than a few by Macaulay himself.
Walking a muddy path with his wife and dog is easy for Bill, as a member of Washoe County Search and Rescue, Macaulay usually gets a call when conditions are at the worst.
“When the pager starts beeping and you can't see the mountains, ‘cuz it's blowing sleet at 50 miles per hour,” he describes.
Bill has been saving lives, finding lost and injured explorers - in all sorts of treacherous conditions - for forty years - all as a volunteer.
"A lot of what my nature is the way God made me, you know - and what He intended for me to do."
The list of what Bill has done over four decades is awe-inspiring.
From search and rescue in 1985 of the ill-fated Galaxy Flight 203, to recovering skiers, and a life-saving rescue at Pyramid Lake about five years ago;
"We actually deployed out of a helicopter and rescued two guys out of a capsized canoe who were stranded out in the middle of the lake in the storm,” he recalls.
He is humble.
Bill and his wife Lynn - also a rescue swimmer and HASTY volunteer- pulled that fisherman out just as he was slipping under.
While adventurous, Macaulay says search and rescue missions also come with a challenge many over look;
"It's spontaneous and you have to have a tolerance for the unexpected."
For forty years Bill has had his life interrupted, and endangered - from search and rescues in abandoned mine shafts to the icy, rushing Truckee River.
Macaulay agrees there are some “spooky moments.”
"You know, you have that realization that something could happen that you really don't have any control over."
And Macaulay wouldn't have it any other way.
He started volunteering when he was just 20 years old and has no plans to stop.
“I have a terminal case of FOMO,” Macaulay laughs, "I just hate the idea of getting out of it and something really cool is ‘gonna come along and it'll be - drrragh - I wish I was still there!"
###
Just this weekend, Bill Macaulay was honored by Sheriff Balaam with a special award for his devoted service to search and rescue.
Some of his volunteer career highlights include:
• Galaxy Flight 203 plane crash in 1985
• Commendation from Washoe County Sheriff Vincent Swinney for a Christmas Day 1983 rescue in Pershing County
• Commendation from Mono County Sheriff’s for his work recovering victims from a tour bus accident in 1986
• Sierra Chemical Plant explosion in 1998
• Search for Rick Gentry in the Galena Creek Regional Park area in 2010. Bill and Lynn Macaulay were successful in locating Mr. Gentry’s remains in February 2011.
• Murphy Mine rescue attempt in 2011
• Lifesaving rescue of two missing kayakers at Stampede Reservoir in 2012. In this instance the Sheriff’s Office RAVEN helicopter transported both victims directly to the hospital due to extreme hypothermia.
• Lifesaving rescue of fisherman whose canoe capsized in Pyramid Lake during the winter of 2014
• In 2015, Bill and his wife Lynn received the Everyday Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Red Cross of Northern Nevada
