DATE: Wednesday, September 24, 1997         TAG: 9709240435

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   63 lines

COUPLE, FIVE CHILDREN SURVIVE A NIGHT LOST IN GREAT DISMAL SWAMP

After daylight Tuesday, as search dogs sniffed the trail and helicopters prepared for another fly-over, searchers in the Great Dismal Swamp kept shouting the names of seven relatives who had been stranded overnight.

About 8:10 a.m., they heard a reply.

Safe but full of chigger bites after covering themselves with leaves to keep warm, Richard D. ``Ricky'' Davis Sr., 39; his wife, Evelyn, 32; and five children - nieces and nephews ranging from 4 to 13 - had been found.

Capt. Jeffrey T. Messinger, Suffolk's emergency services coordinator, said the leaves and a heavy canopy of trees apparently had prevented the Coast Guard's infrared sensors from detecting their body heat as helicopters flew overhead during the night.

The family was checked at Obici Hospital's emergency room, then released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Richard Davis ``did a very good job of keeping them together and keeping them warm,'' Messinger said.

Richard and Evelyn Davis, who live in the 100 block of Chestnut Street, could not be reached.

The children - 13-year-old twins Chase E. Davis and Chastity E. Davis; Joseph P. Davis, 11; Patrick D. Davis, 9; and Michelle L. Bradshaw, 4 - live in the 4600 block of White Marsh Road.

Patricia Davis, mother of the younger three children and the twins' aunt, reported them missing about 7:15 p.m. Monday when they were more than two hours overdue.

The Fire Department's newly organized 15-member wilderness search-and-rescue team, arranged its first mission. It set up a command post at a parking lot in the swamp where the Davises had left their station wagon - unlocked and with the keys and their belongings inside. ``They were just going on a little hike,'' Patricia Davis said.

The children had gotten poison ivy and scratches, she said Tuesday. ``But there's no real harm. They were just scared to death, but they used their heads and stuck together. They fought like real troopers with nothing to eat all night.''

Her brother and sister-in-law had picked up the children after school Monday for a nature hike, she said.

They walked on the dirt and gravel road for about a mile along Jericho Ditch, heading toward Lake Drummond, Messinger said. They crossed a foot bridge and walked nearly a mile into the woods because the youngest child wanted to climb a tree, he said.

Afterward, they became disoriented and could not find their way back, he said.

During the night, Richard Davis apparently tried signaling the helicopter with a pair of mirrored sunglasses, but the Coast Guard searchers didn't see the signal, Messinger said.

The search party quickly swelled to about 60 as representatives of the state Department of Emergency Services, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Tidewater Search and Rescue Team, and Dogs East of Richmond joined local police, fire and rescue officials and the Coast Guard.

State resources were stretched because two other search missions were being conducted in other parts of the state, Messinger said.

But the local search-and-rescue team's training enabled the searchers to coordinate the local effort, he said. ``It's great to be able to respond to this type of emergency,'' Messinger said. ``We feel our training paid off.'' ILLUSTRATION: Map

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