New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers.
Essex County
Town of Keene
Wilderness Rescue: On December 14th at 4:45 pm, Essex County 911 received a call from a hiker requesting assistance on the Hurricane Trail in Keene. The 40-year-old from Broadalbin became turned around on the trail and was concerned about the impending darkness. The hiker didn’t have a light source or enough charge on his cell phone for a light, was not appropriately dressed in layers for the weather, and did not have micro spikes, a map, or a compass. At 6:39 pm, Forest Ranger Curcio located the hiker approximately one mile and a half up the trail, and walked him to his vehicle.
BE PREPARED:
Be sure to properly prepare and plan before entering the backcountry. Visit DEC’s Hike Smart NY, Adirondack Backcountry Information, and Catskill Backcountry Information webpages for more information.
If a person needs a Forest Ranger, whether it’s for a search and rescue, to report a wildfire, or to report illegal activity on state lands and easements, they should call 833-NYS-RANGERS. If a person needs urgent assistance, they can call 911. To contact a Forest Ranger for information about a specific location, the DEC website has phone numbers for every Ranger listed by region.
Read past Forest Ranger search and rescue reports here.
Is it time? Time to start charging for rescues of unprepared tourists? There are 6 states which have laws in place to do exactly that. Half of them are here in New England: Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/us/rescue-hikers-cost.html
It’s well past time. And charge more than a token amount. S&R is for emergencies, not people who chose being unprepared.
Not only should they charge a substantial fee, but the name of the individual(s) should be published also. If people start seeing names printed along with these totally clueless decisions, perhaps it will stop someone else from just “winging it”. There is more than enough information available for an individual to at least take the basics on any hike.