Barbara Lawlor, Nederland. The call came in around 11:40  last Wednesday morning, December 17. A three-year-old girl had disappeared from her home on Blue Spruce off of Ridge Road. The child was last seen wearing pajamas and had been missing for about half an hour.

It was a damp, cold, cloudy day, about 33 degrees—certainly not as bad as it could have been, but dark storm clouds were building up to the north. The tone for a search went out to Nederland Fire Protection District, Nederland Police Department, Boulder County Sheriff's Office, Search and Rescue, Front Range Rescue Dots, AMR Rocky Mountain Rescue.

A reverse 911 call was sent out to the residents in the area, alerting them to be on the lookout for the child

The message was: "This is the Boulder County Sheriff's emergency notification system. Be prepared to receive important information on a missing child in your area. Emergency personnel are looking for a missing three-year-old female last seen approximately one hour ago near Blue Spruce Rd South and Valley Rd. She is a white female with brown hair believed to be last wearing either multi-colored leggings with a blue Mickey Mouse pajama top or a plaid red coat. She may also have a pit bull accompanying her.

“At this time if you have seen a child matching the description or have information as to her whereabouts please contact the Boulder County Sheriff’s dispatch at 303-441-4444."

A command post was set up near the child's home and searchers spread out to the north and west of the house, walking the social trails that led downhill to Boulder Canyon.

Other searchers found small footprints leading from the house up to Ridge Road. Volunteers began walking in the area and stopping traffic, asking people to be on the lookout.

About an hour and a half later, when the girl had not been found, the agencies began organizing on Ridge Road, about to send search dogs the other direction, when a woman in a blue parka came walking down the hill on the other side of the road, carrying a child, accompanied by a red and white pit bull and a long-haired black dachshund.

The searchers stared and then smiled, hoping but not quite yet believing that the child was the one they were looking for.

The woman said she had come home, which is close to a mile away from the girl's house, after being told about the missing child. She remembered she had left her door unlocked. When she entered the house, she saw the girl at the top of the stairs.

"I don't know how she got in, unless my dog opened the sliding glass door and the girl came in with her dogs." The three dogs had made a mess in the house, as if they had been playing hard. They also got into the candy canes. It seemed like quite the party. The woman says it looked like the girl had climbed into the guest room bed at one point

The girl was warm and although she seemed worried about getting home, was calm and unharmed. She was hesitant to give her name, but the pit bull responded immediately to his name.

An RMR volunteer gave the girl her favorite stuffed animal that the search and rescue dog handlers were going to use for scent identification. She clutched the toy and asked the volunteer to take her home. When she was asked where she lived she pointed in the general direction of her house. "Take me home," she said.

Once everyone was certain this was indeed the missing child, everyone involved was smiling, many of them knowing that a happy ending like this isn't always the case.

Her father was brought to the ambulance; dogs and family reunited. Emergency workers stayed for the debriefing, trying to figure out the details of the child's journey.

Nederland Fire Protection District Fire Chief  Rick Dirr said the firefighters and Nederland Police arrived at the house, and while police chief Paul Carrill interviewed the girl's father and cleared the house, the firefighters began their search of the immediate area.

Dirr says, "When we got there, we could see the child's footprints leading out back to a network of lots of trails; there was a lot of area to cover, but statistics show a child will head downhill and most likely follow a trail."

Three Front Range Rescue dogs and the BCS Bloodhound were brought in and presented with a scent article, the child's stuffed animal. When the trail stopped at Ridge Road, the search teams were preparing to set out across the road when the child appeared—a true blessing to all who had been on the search.

Dirr says he was relieved when he heard that the girl had her dog with her.  He said that one of the major concerns is big animals—a lion, a coyote, a bear—and the dog would do its best to protect the child. The other main concerns are the number of old mine shafts and the cliffs.

"Having the dog with her greatly enabled our chance to find her. I'd trust any kid with the family pit bull," says Dirr.

He says he has had lost-child training, which is the call that causes any rescue worker the most anxiety. It is technically difficult to manage and always begins with a great deal of trepidation, not knowing the outcome.

Dirr says the Everbridge call, the reverse 911, was effective; that anyone in the area was immediately on the lookout for the child. "The system worked. We had many people showing up to help. The Everbridge call was the smartest thing we did."

According to missing child statistics, 50 percent of children one to three years old are found within a fourth of mile. 96 percent of them survive good weather and 34 percent survive bad weather. 57 percent of missing children are found on social trails like the one leading down to Boulder Canyon.

Most children in that age group are unaware of the concept of being lost and often will not respond to people calling out for them. If the child is accompanied by the family dog, he or she will not feel alone.

Dirr says, "We were all happy the weather was not terrible and that it was daylight. We had a good chance of finding her, barring any injury. Next time, we would do a better job of securing the area, of checking all license plates, in case it had been an abduction issue."

Dirr is happy with the outcome, that all the right things happened.