Croatian Mountain Rescue Service () is a national, voluntary, professional, humanitarian and non-partisan association working in the

public interest In social science and economics, public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. While it has earlier philosophical roots and is considered to be at the core of democratic theories of government, often paired ...

. It is dedicated to preventing accidents, and providing

rescue Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, removal from danger, liberation from restraint, or the urgent treatment of injury, injuries after an incident. It may be facilitated by a range of tools and equipm ...

and

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...

services in mountains and other hardly accessible or inaccessible areas as well as in extraordinary circumstances which require special

know-how Procedural knowledge (also known as know-how, knowing-how, and sometimes referred to as practical knowledge, imperative knowledge, or performative knowledge) is the knowledge exercised in the performance of some task. Unlike descriptive knowledge ...

and equipment for preserving human, material and environmental resources. The CMRS is a non-profit association that performs services of national interest. There are 25 mountain rescue teams across the entire territory of the

Republic of Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Mont ...

. The CMRS works in close cooperation with state authorities and local and regional self-government units, institutions, the Croatian Armed Forces, health care and social welfare institutions, the

Croatian Mountaineering Association The Croatian Mountaineering Association () covers both mountaineering and a broad range of related activities. Unlike the majority of the international mountaineering associations, the association's remit extends to speleology, climbing, orienteeri ...

and other legal and natural persons from the field of culture, physical education and sports, tourism, protection of nature and environment as well as transport. It also cooperates closely with public institutions and nature protection bodies responsible for the protection and preservation of nature and environment of mountains. Moreover, the CMRS operates very often in urban and other non-mountainous areas as well, performing jobs that include height, tunnels or pipes, providing assistance in cases of road or sea accidents, and in a number of

extreme sports Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk of injury or death. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extre ...

(

paragliding Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or in a cocoon-like 'pod' suspended be ...

mountain biking Mountain biking (MTB) is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability ...

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

, etc.). In addition to rescue and first aid services to injured casualties in hardly accessible or inaccessible areas, the CMRS pays great attention to education and prevention, i.e. prevention and avoidance of accidents in inaccessible terrains, particularly mountains. Namely, mountain rescue teams are present at all major Croatian

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area–a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North Am ...

s ( Sljeme, Platak, Bjelolasica),

rock climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...

area in the Paklenica National Park, as well as at various extreme sport events, such as mountain bike races, sport climbing competitions and more. In 2014, members of the Croatian Mountain Rescue service took part in the Riesending cave rescue in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Germany, one of the largest and most difficult cave rescues in history. HGSS is a member of ICAR (International commission for alpine rescue), is also a member and one of the founders of ECRA (European Cave Rescue Association). HGSS is also a member of the IRO - International Search and Rescue Dog Organization.

References

Sources

External links

Organizations established in 1950 Emergency services in Croatia Mountain rescue agencies Recipients of the Charter of the Republic of Croatia {{Croatia-org-stub