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May 7, 2008
Vacation Stories from Los Angeles: Search & Rescue
Yesterday, two men visiting Los Angeles took a hike in Griffith Park and before they knew it, it was dark. Probably not a place for night hiking if don't know your way around, especially with the constant tease of being within sight of the city lights below, but many cliff jumps away.
Eventually, they were on their cell phone with park rangers trying to find their way back to their car, but after some time, park rangers called the assistance of the Los Angeles Fire Department to help locate the men by high powered lights mounted on a helicopter.
The men were found unharmed, mid slope near Mineral Wells Trail, by the helicopter. Then came the fun part -- they got a free ride in the LAFD helicopter to an ambulance for a standard check up. Apparently, they were jazzed about the helicopter ride. Who wouldn't be? Sounds like a good story to tell friends when you get back home.
LAFD Spokesman Brian Humphrey said there is a lesson to be learned about this in regards to personal safety when going hiking. The two men had a fully charged cell phone with them. Without it, they probably would have been found the next morning... alive and well with a hankering for some warm clothes and food.
Photo by Hamed Saber via Flickr
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i'm glad it ended well, but who pays the bill for their stupidity?
We pay. And to that note, it's not like they did it with purpose and it's not out of the ordinary for the LAFD to do lost hiker calls (I see them come through all the time). It's just normal business in Los Angeles. Usually, lost hikers are locals who took it too far.
Getting lost in the Angeles National Forest at night I can imagine doesn't take much lack of common sense. Getting lost in and needing to be rescued from an urban park (albeit the largest one in the country)? Now that's some numbskullery for sure.
Not that it couldn't happen to me, but if it did, I'd just hunker down for the night, hike out in the morning and keep that idiocy to myself.
Actually, they may well get a bill for the rescue. It's becoming common to charge for these.
Nope, no bill or charge or any exchanging of money for this service, according to the LAFD per the phone conversation last night.
Odd that they don't get charged. I was flown out of the bottom of the Grand Canyon by heilcopter for a family emergency back in California and we footed the hefty bill. Now THAT was a helicopter ride.
who gets to pick and choose?