Urban explorers could be billed for rescue costs

The Minneapolis Fire Department may soon be able to bill urban explorers for rescuing them from abandoned buildings.

Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson is proposing the fee. She said it's not fair to make taxpayers cover all the costs.

"It's not like you had a heart attack," Johnson said. "It's that you've chosen to participate in an illegal activity, putting yourself at risk, and then putting at risk the people that have to rescue you."

In June, the Minneapolis Fire Department rescued an injured man who fell four stories inside an abandoned grain elevator. It took 35 firefighters more than three hours to safely evacuate him. Under a draft version of Johnson's ordinance, the city could have charged the man about $1,000 for the service.

The fire department already bills motorists for the cost of extricating them from their vehicles following a car accident.