The girls, aged 5 and 6, were located at about 7:30 p.m., just before dark, according to a report from Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office. They were scared but unharmed.
Bauman said sheriff's officials were dispatched to the Hoberg area of Cobb Mountain just before 5 p.m. Thursday in response to the girls having gone missing from a fenced back yard.
Sheriff Frank Rivero and his deputies responded to Angelly Way in Cobb where they collected additional information and received descriptions of the missing girls, Bauman said.
Bauman's report said dozens of county safety personnel responded, coming from the sheriff's office, Cal Fire, Lake County Search and Rescue volunteers, Lake County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services personnel, South Lake County Fire personnel, Lakeport Police and California Highway Patrol.
Cal Fire Battalion Chief Linda Green said her agency was contacted by the sheriff's dispatch after 5 p.m. She said a unit from Cobb and several Cal Fire personnel, including herself, responded.
When she got there, Rivero was at the scene. “He just needed help with the search,” Green said.
Bauman said Cal Fire, CHP and REACH all provided aerial support for the search, while neighbors and volunteers joined the officials on the ground.
Green said Cal Fire's helicopter 104 assisted in the search, focusing on an area on the ridgeline where someone was heard screaming for help.
The helicopter kept finding children and adults in the woods, who were taking part in the search, Green said. One of the missing girls was wearing pink, so they focused on looking for that color.
Green said the helicopter spotted the girls at about 7:20 p.m., and someone on the ground who had a radio confirmed it was them.
Bauman said a neighbor volunteer located the girls stranded in a ravine near Trinity Road in Cobb.
The children were found in a thick patch of manzanita. Green said it wasn't clear how the girls got into the manzanita, where rescue personnel had to crawl in to get them.
Bauman said the girls were airlifted out of the area by the Cal Fire helicopter and assessed by medical personnel. Lake County Sheriff’s personnel subsequently reunited them with their parents.
The girls' mothers, Ashley Williams and Nicole Reimers, posted their thanks to the community and officials on Lake County News' Facebook page Thursday night.
The girls were at Reimers' home when they decided to go exploring, according to the posts.
“I am overwhelmed by the amount of support and how quickly everyone jumped in. Thank you from the bottom of my soul. I am so proud to live in a community like this,” Reimers wrote.
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