The cost of 911 in the Wild
February 25, 2007
I’m a sucker for a good survival story and I read a lot about situations that people face and how they got into them and hopefully out of them. In my earlier life I worked as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician and have learned a lot to help me be safe in the outdoors. This coming week I plan to write a series of posts on things we all can do to keep ourselves and those around us safe.
I was reading an article this past week by Joe Moerschbaecher in the Asheville paper about risks many of us take as we choose to participate in outdoor adventures.
Those of us who seek even moderate adventure, however, understand what drives humans to challenge themselves in the wilderness. We understand the void that is filled, the growth that happens and the satisfaction that is received from achieving an outdoor pursuit that challenges us both mentally through our judgment and physically through the natural environment.
There is inerrant risks we take with many of the outdoor sports we participate in and with a little of planning and a few extra steps we can do it safely and hopefully avoid calling out the cavalry to bail us out. There is a growing push among non participants to require those who engage in these sports to cover the expense of their own rescue. New Hampshire is the latest with a proposal to not allow rescuers to enter National Forest Land until the Federal Government agrees to cover the costs of the rescue. In case you don’t know a good chunk of the state is national forest land. Should taxpayers be on the line if you are ill prepared for the adventure you are under taking? I’m not sure but if the plan is to make a lost hunter who can’t use a compass, or a kayaker who underestimates the power of a whitewater run to pay for their own rescue what about the idiot that falls asleep with a cigarette and burns an apartment building down or the dummy that is talking on his cell phone and runs a red light?
No matter how this debate gets settled we all need to take steps to be safe in the outdoors and to know what to do if something bad happens to us. We owe it to our loved ones to be safe and to those who have to risk their lives to come get us when we do get into trouble.
Moose Droppings is a place that chronicles my journey, I’ll explore new places and ideas I’ll learn new things and I’ll teach the things I’ve learned to others. Join me on the adventure and hopefully it will help you in your outdoor endeavors.
Interesting post Moose. I lean towards personal responsibility, but it is a tough question. I recently got back from horseback riding for 6 days in the Andes in Chile and my wife and I purchased travel insurance that included rescue expenses in the event that we needed to be evacuated. The insurance was relatively inexpensive for a 10 day trip. Maybe people who participate in inherently dangerous activities should consider it. In either case the best insurance is probably knowing some basic navigation and survival skills. Looking forward to your upcoming posts.
I think a foreign country is another story and I think it’s smart you had insurance. Now if you take a tumble while hiking at city park and break a leg should the city of Raleigh send you a bill for the fire department lugging you out? I think not. I guess the question becomes at what point does it become the victims responsibility to cover the cost? In some of these remote areas where there is very limited resources a large single operation can tax the system. I remember one time a place I lived we had a flood in April that exhausted the entire budget we had for the year. With 8 months to go we were in trouble luckily the feds stepped in and it was declared a federal disaster so our budget was restored. It’s a hard call but if we are going to make idiots pay then I think it should be universal across the board.