Letter to Park County Search & Rescue, Part 2

[MTdream]

Sue,


I was a member, and a leader of Sheriff's Department SAR squad for more than 5 years.

The red tape involved with a government sponsored SAR squad is incomprehensible. Fear of lawsuits, fear of repercussions, etc.

You are absolutley right regarding ego's, pride, and the like. "We gotta be by the book." "We gotta keep things within the chain of command." "We don't need any problems"
I resigned as a Lieutenant of my SAR squad 2 years ago for the very reasons you have outlined in you posts.


I believe that too often SAR leaders, and the upper eschelon forget the motto of all SAR units:

"It is my duty as a SAR worker to save life and aid the injured. I will perform my assigned duties quickly and efficiently, placing these duties before personal desires and comforts.
These things I do, that others may live.​

It would be cool, if this story was not being repeated in every county in the mountain west....

These things I do, that others may live....​

I cannot explain to this day...​

...the gravity this motto holds for me is inexplicable.​

I will ALWAYS put the well being, safety, and importance of my fellow man above myself, and EVERYTHING ELSE. At whatever cost -​

because it is simply; the right thing to do.​

As I write this, it brings me to tears. To think - that ANYTHING is more important than life...​

Jeff​

It would be cool, if this story was not being repeated in every county in the mountain west....

and the moto you mention should be the foundation!!! I get their concern over "vigilanteism" or chaos etc. but all those things can be addressed relatively simply by having a communications and coordination conference bridge or whatever....

SAD!!!!

I personally have a SPOT messenger, that has a group of friends as the distro for a help message, and it requests they call in to the bridge to get input/help or latest news...man, if I can figure that out in advance of a tragedy...

again, love the letter, and glad to know others have their core groups that help each other out prior to asking the government for help!!!

 

[cookecity]

Good job Suzan with the article.. All the locals do a great job with search and rescue.I have seen this first hand. Leave Park county S.O. and the park service at the donut shop, they just get in the way,the locals take care of the situation and more than likely you guys will bring the snowmobiler home safe to their familiys.Got alot of trust in you guys in Cooke City volenteers. Goood Luck

 

[1mntnrdr]

unreal

I cant even believe what I have just read. If anyone in my group is burried in a slide i will do whatever it takes to find them including rounding up others to help and no one will stop me untill we have success. I have the most respect for the locals of cooke city and what they have to deal with on a yearly basis. Much respect for all the volunteers of Hasty. Cooke city is bar non the best place to ride snowmobiles. And the people in town are also the best. My heart goes out to the family of those victims. Please be aware of avalanche conditions before riding in avalanche prone areas. Understand how they happen and where. Which in itself would eliminate these kind of events. We need to keep goverment where they belong in washington not on our hills.

 

[skooter]

Thank you Sue.

How can we help to change this ...do we call, do we contact the commissioners, our state legistlators?? Where do we start? http://www.parkcounty.org/sherriff.html




I agree with MTDream....

Man Buried For 8 Hours In Avalanche Survives March 3, 2007
A man buried by an avalanche for almost eight hours emerged with little more than scratches after a relative found him using a probe.

Ryan Roberts, 34, said Friday he was astonished he survived the avalanche, which occurred about 4 p.m. Thursday while snowmobiling with an uncle and friend in Flathead National Forest's Jewel Basin near Kalispell. He was found shortly before midnight. Neither of his companions was caught in the avalanche.

"I guess I was just allowed to live another day," Roberts said in a telephone interview after his release from Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Roberts said he tried to outrun the avalanche by driving his snowmobile at about 80 mph, but leaped off the machine as it sped toward trees.

He said he tumbled downhill and was buried face-up by about 4 feet of snow. After it became apparent that he could not move, Roberts said, he tried to remain calm and accept what he thought was his fate.

His companions began searching for Roberts immediately, and called for help after two hours. About 18 family members and friends, and a Flathead County Sheriff's Department team searched for Roberts for hours, to no avail.
Dan Root, a distant cousin, said he reached the scene shortly before midnight and didn't expect to find Roberts alive. "I parked my sled, got my probe out and walked up the hill about 5 or 6 feet and hit" Roberts with the probe, Root said. "I probed him the first time." After he was dug out, Roberts was taken by snowmobile to the hospital 20 miles away. Associate Press

 

[Beels]

Great letter Sue. You have a great crew of volunteers in that community.

I donate to S&R every year in Cooke and will continue to do so. Snowmobiling is inherently dangerous and is comforting to know there's a people like this ready to assist if an emergency presents itself.

 

[Beels]

No reason to wait for the Park County Search and Rescue to figure out what is up from down.

Do the right thing and let common sense prevail

GOOD SAMARITAN LAW

Good Samaritan laws are meant to protect those who come to the aid of others for no other reason than kindness. Good Samaritan laws only help if the rescuer (or would-be rescuer) is acting without any expectation of reward. In other words, if you are getting paid to rescue then you aren't a good Samaritan. Paid rescuers are expected to do their jobs correctly and can be held accountable for mistakes.

Depending on the state, getting rewarded after the fact can also count as expectation of reward. If you help someone at a car accident and then are rewarded monetarily or otherwise, you may be excluded from good Samaritan protection.

In some states, good Samaritan laws only cover medically trained rescuers, while other states extend protection to the general public. The good Samaritan concept is commonly applied in the courts, which means a case going that far may still be ruled in favor of the rescuer who was trying to help. What good Samaritan laws do for rescuers is provide a get-out-of-court-free card. In other words, unpaid rescuers may prevail in court with or without a good Samaritan law, but it's a lot cheaper if they have the protection.

The best way to protect yourself from possible liability when helping others is to always act on behalf of the victim. That may sound obvious, but if your motivation is to be a hero and not to help out a fellow human, then you risk making the types of mistakes not covered by good Samaritan laws.

Here are some good tips for staying out of court:

Take a CPR and first aid class
Follow your training
Use common sense
Don't do anything you're not trained to do
Get professional help for the victim
Do not accept gifts or rewards
Good Samaritan laws do not protect you from everything. It is human nature to make mistakes. Good Samaritan laws take this into account and protect helpful citizens if the mistakes made are reasonable.

Since defining "reasonable" is so difficult -- even those covered under the good Samaritan law may find themselves defending a lawsuit. Luckily, most lawyers make judgments about when to file lawsuits based on an examination of their return on investment. Since the plaintiff doesn't usually pay up front, the lawyer must decide to take the case on contingency. That means "reasonable" is defined by the lawyer. Believe it or not, that's good. It means those lawsuits that will most likely lose in court won't ever get there.

Interesting topic.

I'm Basic First Responder, CPR "C" and AED certified with St.John's Ambulance in Canada. Does anyone know if these certifications are international? I'll help out anyone in need, but I've always wondered in the back of my mind what would happen if someone decided to go after you with some sort of off the wall lawsuit, in the US? The "Good Samaritan Act" is pretty air-tight in Canada, or so we've been instructed. Any thoughts on this?

 

[StuckRealGood]

Cooke City "Hasty Team"

I was in Cooke City the day of the Daisy crisis and was at the fire hall offering to help, but was told that my 20+ years of riding in Cooke City, was not good enough to help with the rescue efforts. I regret that I did not just saddle up and head out to help Rick with the search, trust me, next time, heaven forbid there is one, we will be out there permission or not. Because if it was me or a member of my group, I would want the same support from my fellow sledders who were so fit to be on a "hasty team".

Cooke City is not at the edge of the world, but pretty close. When a crisis like this happens, someone locally has to take point during those magic minutes that could mean life or death.

Thanks to you Susan and Rick and all of the others in Cooke City who make us feel so welcome and are willing to respond when ever and where ever needed.

We can never thank you enough. But we can offer our assistance if it is ever needed again.

Stacy Taylor

 

[VERTICLE]

Sue, so very true and so sad to hear the result's of such a tragedy. I can truly say that if this ever happened to my brother or friend's while out sledding in Cooke I know with confidenced his party and the local's of Cooke will do what ever is possible to make the best of the situation. It just seem's hard to imagine knowing why are we waiting here, wasting time, waiting for some greenie to lead us. WTF. I am by no mean's a veterian sledder in Cooke, but the few times I have rode there I can truly understand the terrain and how violent it can be at the right condition's. Consider it what you will, but every time my brother and friend's ride out there (which is fairly often) I always call his phone every sunday of thier trip on the way home to check up. Let me know what I can do to help in anyway. Stay safe to you and Ricki and I will see you guy's this March during the hog roast.

With my best ragard's,
Travis Dugger