Recreators should not have to worry about getting a bill if they
get lost or injured while enjoying Colorado's bountiful outdoor
activities, local emergency services officials say.
"If people know they're going to be slapped with a bill, they're
not going to call for help and that's going to make matters worse,"
said Don Davis, manager of Larimer County Search and Rescue.
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Earlier this week, the
Colorado Search and Rescue Board issued a statement decrying the
charging of people who needed search and rescue teams.
The statement came in response to an announcement by Golden Fire
Department that it would charge a Topeka, Kan., man $5,000 for
rescuing him from Clear Creek Canyon. The department said it is
charging the man because the call was outside its jurisdiction.
The Colorado search and rescue community has said it "will
actively oppose and disassociate themselves from any effort to
enforce collection of expenses from a victim or (their) family,"
according to the statement.
Larimer County Search and Rescue, which is housed within the
Larimer County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Management, is a
highly-trained volunteer team, Davis said. The team gets about
$2,000 a year from the Sheriff's Office; the rest of the costs are
covered by the volunteers, he said.
"(Search and Rescue) never, ever bills for services," he said.
"It's not to say missions don't cost money, but that's the cost of
doing business."
Poudre Fire Authority has an agreement that it will assist the
Sheriff's Office with wildland fires, but that agreement would
likely extend to search and rescue as well as dive rescue calls,
said Battalion Chief Gary Nuckols, who oversees PFA's special
operations.
But PFA is unlikely to face a situation like the one encountered
by the Golden department, Nuckols said, because PFA doesn't have the
training to perform rescues such as the one performed by the Golden
department.
"We've never really been subjected to what they've seen down
there," he said.
Sheriff's offices and departments across the state are required
by law to provide search and rescue services, and Larimer County
Sheriff Jim Alderden stands with the search and rescue community's
position that those services should be free.
"If people need help, we're going to be there," he said. "We
don't charge people to investigate burglaries."
There have been a few cases for which the Sheriff's Office has
sought restitution, Alderden said, but those were cases where some
sort of criminal negligence led to the need for a search.
The agency spent more than a month searching Carter Lake for the
body of 2-year-old Shay Smith, who fell from an inner-tube-style
raft that was being pulled by a boat his father was operating July
15, 2006. Gil Smith later pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in
death. The agency is seeking restitution for the exhaustive search
conducted, which included bringing in special search equipment,
Alderden said.
A judge ordered Smith to pay $7,500 for the search.
Rocky Mountain National Park has its own search and rescue team
and does not charge for those services, spokeswoman Kyle Patterson
said.
coloradoan.com
) as a result of that mission. 
