After a particularly harrowing rescue of two out-of-bounds skiers last week, our North Shore Rescue members were treated to familiar chorus of people telling them how to do their jobs.
“They should charge for rescues,” came the caterwauling. Other less compassionate misanthropes suggested the team “let the idiots die.”
We agree that the number of ill-prepared or stupid backcountry adventurers we have putting themselves in unnecessary danger is frustrating.
But thankfully, NSR feels saving lives is more important than assigning blame.
We absolutely stand by their decision to never charge for rescues. Already, the fear of a non-existent rescue charge delays lost hikers and skiers from calling for help. In any emergency, time is of the essence. Injuries worsen, light fades, temperatures drop and the longer a rescue is delayed, the harder it is and the riskier it is for NSR’s volunteers.
Others still complain about their taxes being spent on rescues. The province budgets about $6-million in annual base funding for search and rescue in B.C. – about .01 per cent of the total budget. That’s for all 80 teams and their 2,500 volunteers.
North Shore Rescue’s members meanwhile have had their family lives, their work and their sleep interrupted a near-record 128 times so far this year for rescue call-outs, resulting in almost 10,000 volunteer hours. If you include training, fundraising and administrative time, it’s closer to double that amount.
We’d suggest we’re getting excellent value when the redcoats are coming.
The province stepped up with an extra $10 million for B.C. rescue teams’ training, equipment and public outreach this year, which we welcome. But increasingly, they are relying on community and corporate donations.
If saving lives is something you value, please consider North Shore Rescue in your Christmas time giving. They deserve our support, not our scorn.
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