February 1, 2012 in Outdoors, Idaho

Getting lost can cost – and taxpayers get hit

Shoshone County has had a recent rash of searches

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The first call came from snowmobilers near the old mining town of Murray, Idaho. Dusk had set in, and the caller was worried about a man who had gotten separated from his group.

Shortly afterward, the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Department got another call about a lost snowmobiler. This one had failed to meet a friend near Wallace.

Emergency calls from winter recreationists are common at the Shoshone County sheriff’s department, but the past two Saturdays were particularly busy. Deputies launched five search and rescue efforts to help a hurt snowmobiler and find skiers and snowmobilers who got lost or failed to return on time.

Sheriff Mitch Alexander isn’t surprised that people flock to Idaho’s Silver Valley to enjoy the snow. But extricating them from risky situations taxes his 12-deputy department, which is responsible for patrolling thousands of miles of mountainous terrain.

“Our county is bigger than Rhode Island and bigger than Delaware,” Alexander said. “People don’t realize how big it is … (and) I’ve got a limited number of deputies.”

In Idaho, sheriff’s departments are responsible for search and rescue efforts. The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Department works closely with the U.S. Forest Service, two volunteer search and rescue teams, local ski resorts and even Fairchild Air Force Base, which sends out helicopters when needed.

“They do it for free,” Alexander said of the air support. “But the bottom line is that the taxpayers pick up the costs.”

His department also pays out thousands of dollars in overtime costs each year to deputies called out on complicated search and rescue missions. Some of the calls could be avoided if people stayed with their groups or didn’t embark on solo trips, Alexander said.

The emergency calls received the past two weekends are typical of those fielded by the department.

On Saturday afternoon, a Chewelah, Wash., man got separated from his group of snowmobilers near Murray. The sheriff’s department called in a helicopter from Fairchild to help find the 62-year-old snowmobiler, who was located while the helicopter was en route.

The helicopter was diverted to Wallace to search for Kevin Gouin, 50, of Spokane, who hadn’t returned to meet his friend. The two men had separated when the friend’s snowmobile broke down and Gouin left to get the truck. But Gouin’s snowmobile ran out of gas, and his friend called the sheriff’s department when Gouin hadn’t returned after five hours, said Gouin’s wife, Brenda, in a phone interview Tuesday evening.

Her husband was OK, but he ended up hiking about 10 miles to reach Avery, Idaho. The men hadn’t realized how far up in the mountains they were, Brenda Gouin said.

The previous Saturday was even busier. On Jan. 21, a 23-year-old snowmobiler’s leg was broken in an accident just after 2:30 p.m. Three deputies and an employee from Shoshone Medical Center responded to the call.

About two hours later, three juveniles who tried to ski and snowboard down the gondola tower line from Silver Mountain got stuck. With dusk falling, they called the sheriff’s department for help. The sheriff’s department contacted the Silver Mountain ski patrol, and a ski resort employee was able to reach the youths and reunite them with their families.

Just before 6 that evening, a backcountry skier was reported missing in whiteout conditions in the Pine Creek area. The skier later called the sheriff’s department and reported his GPS coordinates, which helped searchers locate him.

Alexander encourages people to carry personal locater beacons or a satellite messenger, which reduces the search time. They should carry the supplies that would help them survive a night in the woods. And, people should leave detailed information about where they’ll be.

He recalls taking a call from one distraught woman. “My husband’s lost. He’s down in the St. Joe,” she told him.

“You’re talking about an area that’s just huge,” Alexander said. “The St. Joe is half of our county.”

11 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  polistra on February 01 at 4:57 a.m.

  This can be fixed easily by a law.

  Vermont has a law that sounds about right:

  http://www.nobullski-vermont.com/members/lostskiers.html

• 

  DHF on February 01 at 5:40 a.m.

  Send them a bill for the rescue. There is nothing wrong with having fun but it should not be on the taxpayer’s dime.

• 

  Open_Spokane on February 01 at 6:55 a.m.

  There is no excuse for getting lost in the tech world we live in today. GPS and sat. phones are just the basics.

  I suppose there are a few that have had too much to drink while enjoying the great outdoors. This could be a contributing factor to their poor judgement. In these lean economic times the snow
  mobiler’s must bear the economic consequences of their sport and the mistakes they alone make.

  Let the families come up with the money before a search. That’s the republican way of doing business in North Idaho.

• 

  oneanddone on February 01 at 8:23 a.m.

  “Let the families come up with the money before a search. That’s the republican way of doing business in North Idaho.”

  Yes, indeed. Total agreement. Ironic the Bozos in Boise fund S&R from taxes but won’t help the poor. Not surprising, just ironic.

• 

  fishinjay on February 01 at 8:26 a.m.

  I’d be willing to bet that most of those snowmobile riders calling for government help also complain about there being “too much government” or that “government employees are being paid too much.”

• 

  dataxman on February 01 at 8:33 a.m.

  Open_Spokane - good idea, that way the North Idaho taxpayers won’t have to subsidize Chewelah & Spokane morons who get lost or run out of gas…

• 

  rob_brewer on February 01 at 8:38 a.m.

  There is one item the article fails to address, and then I would like to address the comments made following the article.

  First, the article fails to list the efforts made by volunteer search and rescue resources in Shoshone County. I myself am not familiar with those resources, but I suspect their efforts greatly reduce the overall cost of those missions. Search and rescue is primarily a volunteer activity in the United States, with the chief law enforcement officer of his or her jurisdiction being responsible for search and rescue activities. It varies somewhat east of the Mississippi, but that’s not really relevant here.

  In most of the Western U.S., the Sheriff has legal responsibility for search and rescue. In most of the counties in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, missions actually involve relatively few law enforcement officers and many volunteers. This means that one or two officers or deputies may be on the scene to make decisions, but nearly all field resources are volunteer. Air resources, whether Air Force, Border Patrol, law enforcement, or air ambulance, all have associated costs. The only one of those that directly charges the missing person is the air ambulance. Their primary specialty is not searching for people from the air, nor are they readily equipped to do so. One thing about military helicopters: when they fly for civilian search and rescue missions, they count the time toward required training time. In essence, they would be flying on taxpayer expense anyway, why not for a humanitarian purpose?

  Next, let’s talk about charging for search and rescue. The few states that have laws to recover some of the expense of search and rescue missions rarely use them. Reasons for this include things like bringing largely negative publicity to the agency performing rescues and the high standard to meet, usually gross negligence. Proving that someone’s actions or decisions were grossly negligent that led to a search and rescue mission is a tough standard to meet.

  The Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) and the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR), of which I am a board member, have produced position statements against charging for search and rescue services. Among the reasons why volunteer associations are against charging for search and rescue is that charging missing people for the search and rescue services they receive increases the danger and risk to search and rescue volunteers. People will delay a call for help if they fear a cost. In the mountains in our region, a delay in the call will increase the risk to rescuers.

  Tools like GPS receivers and satellite phones, as well as devices like SPOT and Personal Locator Beacons have shown us that people tend to rely on technology too much. While such tools can reduce the amount of time spent looking for someone, the price of battery failure at an inopportune time can be very high.

  If anyone has any questions about search and rescue, I would be happy to answer them.

  Rob Brewer
  Advisor, Spokane County Explorer Search and Rescue
  Secretary, Washington State Search and Rescue Volunteer Advisory Council
  Board Member, National Association for Search and Rescue
  email: sarguy@gmail.com

• 

  dataxman on February 01 at 9:09 a.m.

  Thanks for the information Rob - and all you do. Volunteering to put yourself in harms way to rescue a lost soul is quite generous.

  I was discouraged from volunteering years ago after I was rescued from the skywalk system. Luckily I had water or it could have been tragic…

• 

  RedCedar on February 01 at 12:26 p.m.

  Rob Brewer put it very well. I’m quite familiar with the volunteer Search and Rescue organizations in the two counties in which I’ve lived. The amount of taxpayer money involved is minimal, the volunteers contribute not only their time but much of the equipment, and they often receive generous donations, including from rescued people

  Sheriff Mitch’s main point, as I understand it, was that people should be prepared when they go outdoors and try not to get lost or hurt. He wasn’t really complaining about the cost to the very cash strapped Shoshone County Sheriff’s department, which is liable to be even more cash-strapped if the federal regulators shut down the Lucky Friday mine. It no doubt grates on him a bit when most of the people getting rescued are from out of the county, but his costs for rescuing them have to come out of his budget. I would suggest that anyone who gets rescued and can afford it, make a decent contribution to the local sheriff’s department, especially if it’s a poor rural county that you don’t live in.

• 

  slednek509 on February 03 at 8:11 p.m.

  I think it’s interesting that yall are trashing a rider who had to walk 10 miles in the snow because first, his snowmobile he was riding broke down. That’s right, it lost spark and wouldn’t restart. The conditions were deep powder, perfect for riding but not towing a snowmobile. So, they had to leave that snowmobile and go back and get another one that ended up running out of gas. No one was lost. His friend reported him missing because he didn’t meet him in the spot on time, because he ran out of gas. Mean while, “search and rescue” are looking for him on the wrong side of I90. That helicopter could have saved him a long walk. I think maybe some more fact finding on what really happened before you write articles in your’ paper would be great :)

• 

  slednek509 on February 03 at 8:41 p.m.

  I resent a lot of the above remarks. I ride with a lot of responsible riders. We ARE prepared and have been riding together in Wa, Idaho and Montana for years. I personally know the “lost” snowmobiler and he knows the area…had a trail map with him and knew exactly where he was and where he was going. I would like to think that as residents of the area and being taxpayers that someone would first look in the right area for us if we do get lost or are hurt or have a mechanical failure. Isn’t that why we have search and rescue? We pay for snowmobile tabs and parking permit in Washington as residents and have to also license them in Idaho and Montana as non residents. We spend our money at the area lodges, gas stations and grocery stores. We are a huge source of income for these mountain areas. We are not “bozos” or “losers”…we are snowmobilers.