Should irresponsible hikers be forced to pay for their rescue? The sheriff said yes

Rescue numbers continue to rise in the wilderness areas around St. Helens Mountain – some people’s actions before seeking help have attracted reckless criticism.

A 21-year-old man was kayaking on a waterfall and suffered a spinal injury. A 54-year-old woman lissed on the mountain of St. Helens – sliding down a snow-covered slope – injured her head when she hit a rock.

In May, in a remote mountain county, each requires six hours of effort. Now, a West Coast sheriff is thinking about sending bills to the worst victims.

The idea would involve a new county ordinance that could be cited by a person “if they were found to be reckless or negligent in an operation asking for search and rescue,” according to the sheriff’s office in Skamania County, a remote, sparsely populated county in Washington, home to Mount St. Helens, according to the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office.

“I need to find a creative way to stop the current behavior we are currently witnessing while trying to make up for the financial burden in our county,” Summer Sheriff Char said in a statement. “The ordinance is still in the planning stage, but I think it will be a deterrent for those who take great risks.”

The sheriff’s office said the number of search and rescue missions in Scarmania County soared in May compared to the same month last year.

Skamania County is not alone. In southern Utah, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that it needed permission for some of the most remote and challenging slot machine canyons, noting “a substantial increase in search and rescue operations.”

Nationally, the number of national park search operations is thousands (3,308 in 2023), which may require anything from children separated from parents to hikers lost in remote areas.

The idea of ​​forcing irresponsible hikers to pay for their rescue has been proposed.

In New Hampshire, the state says people may need to pay back the cost of rescuing them. One way to avoid this fee is to buy a “hiking safety card” ($25 per person and $35 per family) to support the state’s search and rescue efforts.

A recent rescue that attracted attention involved a pair of hikers who, despite the expected rain, sleet and snow in mid-January, had to be rescued after a hike and got off a noticeable trail and were worried that they were cold. Rescuers had to break into a trail in the steep terrain – three quarters of a mile to reach the hikers. “The two were found to be inadequately prepared for the predicted conditions,” the Fish and Game Department said in a press release.

In 2013, a massive search and rescue operation was conducted in Orange County in California, launching a massive search for two hikers (19-year-old Nicolas Cendoya and 18-year-old Kyndall Jack). The phone they use to call stopped working, and the authorities can then identify its location.

Three days later, Cendoya was found, half a mile from their car, Jack found Jack on a brush that was tall on his shoulders. Some government officials demanded a $160,000 rescue bill after authorities found methamphetamine in their vehicles (both were parked in vehicles before hiking).

Cendoya pleaded guilty to a felony possession of drugs but was eligible for a drug diversity program, which, if successfully completed, means he could dismiss his case against him. Court records show that the case was dismissed in 2015.

However, a judge denied the Orange County Fire Department request that the agency withdrew $55,000 from searching the couple, saying the firefighting agency was not a victim of the crime and could not seek to restore it.

In response, California lawmakers changed the law to allow government officials to seek reimbursement for future rescue under certain conditions.

The law was signed in 2015 as a law that allows a county or city to seek compensation for rescue costs, if “using special methods”, and “is caused by intentional conduct that intentionally understands violations of any law”, “causing a criminal conviction.”

However, if the rescued person cannot afford the payment, a county will not be able to collect it. The county can’t charge more than $12,000 unless the rescued person is convicted of a felony.

While Orange County hasn’t made up for its costs, hikers do face other legal actions to keep them financially accountable.

Jack was sued by a volunteer rescuer who was injured in the search and fell more than 100 feet, according to rescuers’ lawyers. The volunteer accused Jack of negligence putting rescuers at risk and received $100,000 as part of the legal settlement and paid out from the homeowner’s insurance policy held by Jack’s mother. Cendoya also settled with rescuers for undisclosed amounts, the rescuers’ lawyer said.

Some search and rescue organizations do not support the idea of ​​charging people in need of rescue. Mountain Rescue Assn, no one should think they must delay notifying the appropriate search and rescue authorities. “explain.

The association said in a 2009 position document that most of the services to rescue people in the mountainous areas of the United States were “provided by teams of unpaid professional rescue climbers who gave up their time to participate in search and rescue activities.”

“The typical search and rescue mission ends within a few hours, and the vast majority of the work done by unpaid professional volunteers is usually low,” Charley Shimanski, then president of the Mountain Rescue Association, said in a statement.

Colorado Search and Rescue Association Search and Rescue Association: “It does sometimes over-tax, and newcomers call 911 in suspicious situations,” said. “But we still don’t believe that charging for services is the answer. We know from experience that when people think they will be prosecuted, they usually delay calling and even intentionally escape rescuers.”

Times worker Alex Wigglesworth contributed to the report.