Who pays the cost of rescue?

Earlier this month, a National Park Ranger named Nick Hall was killed while rescuing climbers on Mt. Rainier.

From NBC News:

Hall was on Rainier’s northeast side at about 13,700 feet when he fell around 5 p.m. local time Thursday as he was helping the climbers aboard a helicopter, the service said.

“As the first of the climbers were being evacuated by helicopter, Mount Rainier climbing ranger Nick Hall fell, sliding more than 3,000 feet down the side of the mountain,” the service said in a statement.

…The climbers, two men and two women from Waco, Texas, had been walking on the Emmons Glacier Route on their way down from the summit when two of them slipped and fell into a crevasse, said Kevin Bacher, a park spokesman.

One of the climbers had a working cell phone and was able to notify park rangers. Rescue crews on foot located the climbers and lifted the two out of the crevasse, then began the process of transferring the climbers to a helicopter.

Every year we here in the Sisters Country hear of someone who gets themselves into a bind and needs rescuing. Such incidents often involve people who head out for a day, totally unprepared for something to go wrong that keeps them out over night or in a sudden onslaught of bad weather.

This kind of incident, especially something tragic like the Rainier episode always raises questions. A blog reader forwarded these:

·      Are we as a society are socially obligated to rescue adventurers who put themselves in harms way, or should they be ignored, since they know the risks, and let the chips fall where they may?

·      Should the rescued be held financially responsible for the costs of S & R, or, since they are (probably) tax paying citizens, should they be afforded S & R benefits? 

·      Should there be a superfund set up to pay for search and rescue, funded by said adventurers, to defray the costs of S & R, and give death benefits to the families of rescuers who are injured or killed in the process?

·      Should adventurers be require to purchase S & R insurance?

The SAR volunteers and professionals I’ve talked to often express frustration about people’s cavalier attitude to the wilderness in which they enjoy their adventures, their lack of respect for the elements, their lack of preparation for emergencies. But I don’t think a one of them supports making people pay for rescue. The reason? They’re afraid people will not call when they need to because they’re worried about the bill.

Anyway — interesting questions. What do you think?

Jim Cornelius, Editor