From the Chronicle-Telegram: The elaborate rope rescue of a 51-year-old man who was seriously injured one week ago after falling 25 feet onto a cliff near the Black River has prompted the Elyria fire chief to call for new legislation that would charge victims for their rescues.

An entire shift of 17 firefighters was needed to utilize two different rope and pulley systems. The first rescue involved bringing the victim, who allegedly was intoxicated, from the riverbank to the trail he fell from and then a second rescue had to be used to pull him from the trail to Forest Street, where LifeCare was waiting to take him to the hospital.

Fire Chief Rich Benton talked about the Sept. 26 rescue in terms of its monetary cost to the city and used it as an example to illustrate cases that go beyond normal rescues and end up costing the city money. In those cases, he said, the city should move to recover the costs from the at-fault party.

Benton said he does not think cost recovery should extend to residents who are injured or in need of fire assistance for a motor vehicle accidents or fires, which are covered through their tax dollars, he said. However, he said he would imagine that some costs could be assessed to insurance companies. Read the entire article here.