I was a member of the ICE-SAR for some years (left due to my inability to be active and stay up on things during my university years).
Everyone, excluding a very small group of administrative and specially trained personal, take part in ICE-SAR as volunteers. There is no pay, but you do get access to some fantastic company of people, specialized equipment and training. So it is completely worth it if you enjoy any kind of out door activity, and don&#x27;t mind lending a hand when people need help (most see this as normal community service). 
And most, if not all, members in ICE-SAR would agree that the service should be free for whom ever needs the help (for obvious reasons).<p>However, the issue is that up until a few years back Iceland didn&#x27;t have such insane influx of tourists every year (estimates for 2015 are ~1.2 million foreign nationals. That&#x27;s more than 4x the total population of the country!) and the amount of calls ICE-SAR got due to tourists where manageable (there is equipment costs, fuel and then being able to leave the office to go glacial trekking for lost souls).<p>But now the amount of calls seem (from what I hear from friends still active) to have completely caught everyone off guard. And since we don&#x27;t have an army and the police force is small and mostly tied to each town&#x2F;city, there are no other alternatives than ICE-SAR. 
And having such a strong tradition of the government&#x2F;police being able to rely on the volunteer network, it is difficult to suggest a change where someone starts paying for the work. And what most people suggest is that the government starts paying more for the use of the ICE-SAR service (or support it with more funds), since all emergency calls are directed to the state run 911-esque help line that then decides if a search &amp; rescue operation should be initiated. But you can imagine how difficult it is to start charging for something that up to this point has been free.<p>Just as an extra note:
Currently ICE-SAR gets most of it&#x27;s funds through the sales of fireworks and xmas trees (fireworks are illegal to shoot up in Iceland except during xmas holidays, ~15 Dec-10 Jan) and sales of a small key chain mascot.