Mountain Res-Q
Forum Deputy Chief
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I dont really know if Mountain Rescue is the :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored: stepchild here in CO anymore, Its very competitive to get on the more prestigious MRA teams here, way more than any volley FD that I know of . If anything we are gaining more respect every year. It is true that we run more way more missions than FD runs fires, however "The no charge for rescue" culture means that we do not get reimbursed for what we do.
With the solid increasing trend of outdoor recreation, and corresponding amount of rescues, I wouldn't be surprised if we see the advent of a small paid rescue culture here in the rockies at some point, much like there is in europe. In my opinion there is probably already a need for a highly trained, rescue specific HEMS operation in the rockies to better cater to the ~500 MR missions every year and ski patrol operations. Although we already have way too many HEMS agencies in the front range......:wacko:
While things differ from state to state, I agree. Although, I don't know what "charging for rescue" has to do with it. Fire Departments don't charge for fire fighting and yet firefighting is (or can be) a paid profession. And, technically, many states have laws that allow for the victims of a SAR to be billed later. In California the law states that if you needed SAR because you knowingly put yourself in a situation that was going to be bad, you can be charged; such as driving across a flooded road with "road closed" signs and needing Swiftwater to pull you out. Even if you needed SAR because "sh*t happens" the law allows the county SO to bill the county from which the victim lives, and there have been cases of that county passing the bill on to the victim.
But that is beside the point... more of a "different strokes for different states" type of thing...
I will say this about the current system: we are so use to it being the way it is that we do not question it... it is what it is. It is a "frog in boiling water" type thing. However, think of this: Many or maybe most county's have a Search & Rescue Team. That term implies that this agency provides Search & Rescue services... duh... Yet, many SAR Teams are not really what they claim to be. There was a paper written by a lawyer in the late 80's that I love... he got involved in SAR and analyzed the liabilities on the county, sheriff, the team, and the members. There was a lot of surprising things in the paper, but one thing to focus on here:
If you claim to be something, then you have to be it. What I mean is, how many SAR teams do search AND rescue? Many are little more than a search team claiming to be a SAR Team. Others provide some forms of rescue, but not comprehensively. That is a problem when two "SAR Teams" in neighboring counties provide different services to their respective counties; one county may be involved in swiftwater, but the other is not... in the paper, he noted instances where lawsuits were successful because they claimed to be a SAR Team, but did not provide the same services that several neighboring counties did... FALSE ADVERTISING!!! Now, I mention that for this reason: In another thread, mycrofft asked about online resources for SAR Training. He got two responses; one set for USAR and one set for WSAR. The fact is that if a county has a SAR Team, why is it assumed that they are the providers of WSAR only, while FIRE is generally viewed as the providers of USAR? I am not a member of a WSAR Team... I am a member of a SAR Team, which implies that I am part of an agency that provides all forms of SAR. Why was USAR handed over to FIRE? If we had not lived with this system forever, we would question this. Paramedics respond to medical calls. Firefighters respond to fires. Rescuers respond to SAR's. That is how it logically would make sense. In that system, SAR might actually be paid. Instead, in our system Paramedics respond to medical calls, Rescuers respond to searches, and firefighters respond to fires, medical calls, and rescues... "Jack of all trades... suck at them all"??? Rarely is this questioned. Ya, there is a reason why FIRE typically gets paid more than EMS and WAY MORE than SAR... they now do it all (or claim they can)... imagine how it could be if EMS, FIRE, and Rescue were separate disciplines... personally if I was in need of rescuing on the side of a cliff, I would prefer to have the Technical Specialists from SAR versus firefighters who "also have rescue certifications". That is why my SAR Team is subdivide into specialty teams (swiftwater, search, helicopter, technical, etc.); so that we can honestly say that "the SAR Team did not respond... the Swiftwater Team did, or the Search Team did".
NOTE: This rant is location specific and does not reflect the state of affairs in every region or state! Or maybe it does...
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