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Emergency response?

Gulfalan67

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Yesterday morning I received a phone call. It was the Police. Bloke said an EPIRB had been triggered about 10km west of our house and they were mounting a rescue mission. A Helicopter was flying up from Darwin and they would try to get ground crews in too.

I asked if he wanted me to go for a fly around and have a look? It would take me ten minutes to get overhead as opposed their inbound chopper's two and a half hours. Bloke said no, you stay home and leave it to the experts. I thought of the 'experts' on their way, planning to trek through that forested country incised with gorges steep canyons ravines and rivers. These days they all come equipped with Google maps, be even so, a little local knowledge still helps. The Boy and I walk through that country every third day on our morning patrol. The Boy is the monarch of that country and knows all the secret tracks and passes. But no worries. We left it to the 'experts' from Darwin 🤣

This morning the police called me again. Told that a party of people camping had lost a member of their team overnight. They had triggered the EPIRB in the morning but shortly afterwards the lost individual had wandered back into their camp. Police Bloke said 'its all resolved perfectly alright'.

Im very pleased everybody is OK. But in my view its not alright. That wasted response would cost the tax payer thousands of dollars and a full day of Emergency Services response. And why were those people on private land without permission? I asked the bloke if they would be prosecuted for trespass, costing taxpayers money for being where they had no legal right to be? Police bloke said no, because they didn't want to deter people from using EPIRB if they needed to. I see his point, but obviously if you just deterred people from accessing hazardous locations in the first place, they wouldn't be getting lost and using EPIRBs.

Its a tough issue and I'm sure there will be mixed opinions in this forum

Alan
 
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My personal feelings are that the beacon was triggered irresponsibly. The ”lost” camper probably just woke up early and went to watch the sunrise from some suitably picturesque spot, then the others panicked.
As someone that wakes early and goes out to watch the wildlife at sunrise I can honestly say it’s the best time of day. Still cool and quiet, you get the best of the birdsong and the animals are less wary.
This is a great example of a failure to communicate.
 
Leave the emergency services out of it and encourage the land owner to push for a trespassing prosecution.
They may have also damaged fences etc.
 
It’s great that no one was hurt, and I can only imagine (through tv shows) how dangerous the Australian outback is… it’s a difficult one to comment on as in fairness they used the EPIRB’s for a reasonable reason considering where they was however being out there and wandered off without telling anyone is irresponsible, stupid really!…and then there’s the issue of not having permission! Should they be prosecuted? That’s a question I would struggle to answer.
 
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