Well said! Also consider that many rescues are really carried out by volunteers, particularly mountain rescues. As for Oregon, they have an Air Force reserve rescue wing in Portland that trains constantly by mock rescues or simply flys to punch holes in the sky. They really love getting to do a real rescue. We are already paying for most city, state and federal people that participate in search and rescue. Are we supposed to pay them to be ready and then get charged when they have to actually do a rescue??
All of these agencies spend huge sums of money on equipment and training, our tax dollars. They should not be charging for actually providing a service.
Remember when you run off the road on ice and the Highway Patrol came and pulled you out, were you sent a bill? When you fell off a ladder and were knocked unconscious, did the city paramedics charge you for coming and checking you out?
What annoys me is a person saying mountain climbers should pay but not others who also take risks on the highways, at home whatever. If some fatcat that never took care of his health drops on the street with a heart attack, should the paramedics not come along because he took unnecessary risks?? Trust me, no matter what you do, you can come into need of some form of rescue.
From my experience, many that are responsible for rescue operations are not very capable of actually accomplishing them. No proper training, no experience and too many donuts along the way. We once were called to haul some sheriff folks from a canyon because they were in a "life and death situation". The truth was that they were out of shape, overweight and lazy. They had no problem hiking downhill, just could not get back up. As it happened the helicopter had a mechanical failure and crashed on that "rescue", one crewman lost a leg when trapped under the wreckage, one had a broken back and another minor burns. The Air Force was out a $25 million aircraft. Should we have charged the Sheriff's office for the medical, time off work and the helicopter??
We pay taxes to receive some services, whether it is better roads, law enforcement, fire protection, etc. When we fall off a mountain, we should get consideration also. Could have stayed home and been safe until an electrical short caused a fire and we had to be rescued by the fire department. Sure draw a line, but where?