BRINNON – Jefferson County’s costs of bringing the body of a Silverdale man down a mountain trail on Saturday were minimal, said Sheriff Mike Brasfield.
“The cost to the Jefferson County taxpayers would be somewhere in the area of $2,000,” Brasfield said.
Thomas Edward Graham, 35, died of an apparent heart attack while hiking the 12-mile Mount Jupiter Trail south of Brinnon on Saturday.
The cost to the county includes overtime pay for deputies who worked on the recovery, gasoline to get to the 3,792-foot summit and other operational costs.
A Snohawk 10 helicopter was called in from Snohomish County in the recovery.
The helicopter was in use for about two hours on Sunday during the recovery, said Rebecca Hover, spokesperson for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
Figuring a cost of $500 per hour for fuel and maintenance, the total amount came to roughly $1,000, Hover said.
But Snohomish County will send no bill to Jefferson County.
Federal laws prohibit Snohomish County from charging other jurisdictions for the use of the helicopter, which was obtained through federal resources, Hover said.
Brasfield credited the Jefferson Search and Rescue team – a volunteer citizen search and rescue group that works under the Sheriff’s Office – with providing aid to the deputies.
The search and rescue team attempted to bring Graham’s body down the trail in the early morning hours Sunday, but the terrain was too treacherous, Brasfield said.
The team members stayed with the body through the night before the Snohomish County helicopter was called in on Sunday.
The true cost of the recovery, Brasfield said, is that deputies were occupied with the recovery from about 7:30 p.m. Saturday to 2:30 p.m. Sunday and were not able to respond to routine calls.
The Jefferson Search and Rescue team trains once a month.
The 12-member team put more than 250 hours of volunteer time into the rescue, said Heather Taracka, spokesperson for the volunteers.
