I think it’s great though two kids got rescued. Perhaps if a regular guy with a bloodhound found them he would have been treated as a hero rather than an opportunist. Not many folks I know have 407’s or NVG, it sounds like the private owner has better equipment than law enforcement. When I heard of this story it reminded me of a sad case several years ago where a 10 year old boy disappeared after taking a short cut through the woods in New Hampshire. He got lost in the woods and died of exposure. To my knowledge no helicopters were used in the search. As for saying the ground searchers were close by is meaningless. Case in point, several years ago a boy scout got lost in the woods for several days, several times searchers on horseback came within close distance but the scout hid as his parents told him to avoid strangers (the times we live in).
I believe the trend will be more civilian helicopter owners and pilots will be stepping up to help out in situations like this. Military heli operations are being closed down because the assets have been deployed oversees or because of budget cuts. New operations may startup as non-profits and user older assets such as Alouette III or B206. A few such organizations already exist in the USA.