Yuma Sector makes plans for emergency calls

BY BLAKE SCHMIDT, SUN STAFF WRITER

Faced with the possibly of 2006 being the deadliest summer on record, the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector is already making preparations.

The sector knows what to expect: Dehydration and other heat-related illnesses suffered by illegal immigrants crossing the desert around Yuma.

Therefore the sector has plans for increased air patrols, emergency training for agents and more manpower to prevent deaths on the border, according to Yuma sector spokesman Rick Hays.

Besides the 16 agents assigned to its Border Search Trauma Rescue team (BORSTAR), the sector is training more agents to be emergency responders, he said.

There are already signs that increased enforcement efforts in the Tucson sector and near San Luis, Ariz., could push illegal border crossers out into the arid desert east of Yuma County.