Posted on 10/29/2021 1:10:23 PM PDT by nickcarraway
fficials in Phoenix voted Thursday to fully adopt a policy limiting access to certain hiking trails in extreme heat.
The Phoenix Parks and Recreation board unanimously pushed through the measure, which will close trails at Camelback Mountain and Piestewa Peak from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. any day an excessive heat warning is issued.
The policy was tested at Echo Canyon and Cholla Trail in the Camelback Mountains and the Piestewa Peak trails in the Phoenix Mountains Preserve from July 13 to Sept. 30.
The trial run began after nearly a dozen members of the Phoenix Fire Department were sent home after suffering heat exhaustion after making multiple hiker-related saves in a single day.
Phoenix mountain rescues decrease during pilot program to close trails in extreme heat
First responders said in September the program helped cut down on the number of mountain rescues they made on days of extreme heat.
The parks board said in a press release it will monitor rescue data as part of yearly evaluations.
Under the policy, parking lot gates will be closed whenever the National Weather Service issues an excessive heat warning.
Signs will be posted explaining the closure and park rangers will be on duty to answer questions.
Should the government tell us when we cna hike?
“Should the government tell us when we cna hike?”
Someone needs to when idiots need government services to save them from themselves.
Too hot for crossing our border?
Mad dogs and Englishmen...
If the government is the one who is risking their firefighters and wasting resources because people are making stupid choices-- like hiking up a mountain in 121 degree weather. It's akin to governments closing the beach when there are rip-tides or e -coli/red- tide conditions. These same stupid people have an expectation that government emergency crews will be sent to save them from their stupidity.
Concur. Perhaps a better policy would be to fully charge for such rescue incidents. That would stop a lot of these people who far, far overestimate their abilities and who completely fail to use their critical thinking skills. Baring some unusual circumstance, I, as a taxpayer, should not have to pay for someone’s foolishness that also puts others in jeopardy.
It spares the taxpayers high rescue costs. I read about one Jaybird who got caught on a mountainside trying to rescue a drone worth about $50. Rescue costs were about $50,000 with MedEvac and the like.
Yeah, even the life of a dumb@$$ is worth $50,000, so you've gotta do it.
Damn, our government sure keeps their eyes on the ball.
I can’t remember a day where a fellow citizen didn’t express their concern over the anarchy of hiking. It’s about time...
“Yeah, there are people that stupid. For the same reason you have to board up abandoned buildings.”
Florida has many bike trails, many with fences. They put fences up to keep bikers from going off trail and falling into knee deep water but no fence to keep riders from going off trail and being hit by a car.
Then we have those bike lanes right in the middle of traffic!
They already bill people for things like this, especially since it involes ambulance or helicopter transport. As the article says, what precipitated this new policy was that firefighters were being sickened and taken out of service as a result of these unnecessary rescues. That endangers not just the firefighters, but the rest of the community as well.
“Fearing the worst, the distraught dog lover dialed 911,”
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4008063/posts#1
It’s Squaw Peak.
In other words, 365 days a year. What problem are they trying to solve?
Always swim perpendicular to the rip tides.
June thru August
I don’t mind charging them for their rescues. But I live in southern AZ and am well adapted to heat. I can hike safely in 115 deg heat. Don’t do it often and I won’t lose sleep over it being banned, but I regularly RUN in 105 degree heat.
It happens all the time in Washington State. Dumb libs go hiking in the mountains... Then expect the government to rescue their dumbass.
I live here too. Have for 26 years. You and I know better, but the yay-hoos who get themselves stuck up on Camelback in mid-June apparently don't.
Wow. You are a machine. Perhaps you should be one of those rescue guys.😄
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