My organization, Southern Arizona Rescue Association, has been in existence for 60 years, and to the best of my knowledge, has never been sued. Of course, SARA's pockets are very shallow.

I would say that community support and approval has increased over the years - probably this correlates with increasing competence of the organization.

Improvisation, or a plan B, doesn't mean that you have to assume risks or take chances.

One of the virtues of a volunteer organization is that you have people with varied backgrounds. This helps when you have an odd situation. SARA's members included some physicians, as well as at least two ER nurses. We had about three working professionally certified engineers who were reasonably adept rock climbers. At least one of them was present when the mine shaft rig I mentioned was devised, paying attention to stresses, etc.

Oddly enough, I don't recollect that any of SARA's members were attorneys....