If someone gets rescued like on a snowy mountain, do they have to pay a fine and/or fees or is it free?

Question

You hear all these stories about people being searched for and rescued, fbi, military etc, lost on some snowy peak. But who foots the bill for all this?

Answer 1

No. Unless you are running from the law, and they are incurring these extra man hours to search for you, the search is part of their job description. As with the case with the Run-away bride she had to pay back the police departments for their search efforts because she was not actually missing.

Answer 2

That's a very good question. I have always wondered why you would endanger your life in a snowstorm just to climb a mountain. Guess I'll never know!