SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. -
Here goes nothing. It's something Greg Zeman has said to himself time and again at Red Rocks Park in South Burlington.
"Five years probably over 1,000 times I've jumped off this cliff," Zeman said.
Despite warnings signs from the city of South Burlington, Zeman and dozens of other thrill-seekers do it anyway.
"I see the warning signs as jump at your own risk," Zeman said. "I've been jumping here for five years now. Honestly, I don't see a lot of danger to it."
"Jumping off the cliffs could result in serious injury or death," said Tom Hubbard, the South Burlington Recreation Director. "Plus they could hit submerged objects down there which we want to make them aware of in case they hadn't considered that component of the danger."
The city of South Burlington is trying send the message that while this may look like fun; it often turns into an emergency situation. Just last week the Coast Guard, Burlington Fire Department and South Burlington Fire Department had to rescue a 32-year-old man from the water after a few drinks and a jump at Red Rocks.
"People tend to fall incorrectly; hit the water sideways or at a weird angle, sitting position, different than just coming straight in with their feet. So they tend to get hurt that way most likely," South Burlington Fire Capt. Craig Rounds said.
That rescue took place after a jump from the 76-foot cliff.
"No, I'm not doing that ever again," Zeman said.
After a bad fall, Zeman sticks to the 40-foot cliff.
It's important to note what they're doing is perfectly legal. The city put up warning signs six years ago. They say since then they've seen the number of rescues drop from roughly 15 a season to two or three.
"Not only do you have all of our people, trucks and equipment involved, but you're looking at reduced services to the rest of the city and the rest of the area because we're now tied up on an incident that really was preventable," Rounds said.
But the city says no matter how bad it gets they won't enact an ordinance making jumping illegal and they will never charge a fee for rescue service.
"The last thing we want is for someone to be injured in the water and need medical assistance and convince people not to make the call for fear of being charged and not wanting to pay," Hubbard said.
City officials say even if an ordinance was put in place the rocks are accessible from the land and water so no fencing or boundaries could successfully block people from jumping.
Cliff jumping is a popular activity many people safely do on vacations around the world. Rescue workers say what makes this spot so unsafe is the water here is constantly changing; it's higher at different points of the year and it's difficult to know what level makes it safe. There are also submerged objects that jumpers often hit which add to the level of danger here.
