Austrian cave rescue
The Austrian Cave Rescue is one of the Austrian rescue organizations with special rescue tasks. Like all emergency services, they are organized according to the respective state laws of their locations. The individual regional associations organized according to the Association Act are combined in a federal association.
Organization and tasks
The purpose of this cave rescue is
"The task of the special rescue service is to help those who have had an accident, missing, sick or otherwise in distress off the public road network in impassable, especially alpine terrain (mountain rescue), in caves or cave-like cavities such as mines or earth stables (cave rescue) to look for, to supply, to rescue and to transport, as well as to support authorities or other organizations if required and to carry out joint operations if necessary. "
The 144 Notruf Niederösterreich , which can be reached directly from all over Austria on the emergency number 0 26 22/144, handles the alarm for the entire federal territory . However, alarms can also be issued via the other rescue emergency calls 144 or the Alpine emergency call 140, as well as via the European emergency call 112, since the other receiving control centers pass on the alarm accordingly.
The cave rescue service mainly uses the mountain rescue radio network as a means of connection and is to be included in the BOS radio system in Austria in the future, which has already happened in some cases, for example in Lower Austria , where the network was established across the board.
The training of the members, who only work on a voluntary basis , takes place in the individual bases and is only coordinated in the regional associations. However, due to the number of caves, there are not regional associations in all federal states, but only in (as of 2018):
| state | savior | Deployment sites (locations) |
|---|---|---|
| Carinthia | 35 | Villach , Klagenfurt |
| Lower Austria | 47 | Lower Austria-West, Neunkirchen , Vienna |
| Upper Austria | 80 | Linz , Sierning , Gmunden , Ebensee , Hallstatt - Obertraun |
| Salzburg | 60 | Salzburg |
| Styria | 56 | Bad Mitterndorf , Eisenerz , Graz , Mürz Valley , Schladming , Zeltweg |
| Tyrol | 25th | Tyrol |
Financing is largely provided by federal state subsidies and partly by reimbursement of costs after assignments. The amount of donations, on the other hand, is minimal due to the not so widespread awareness.
As at the beginning, the cave rescue works closely with the various cave research associations, as rescues are often only possible with the latest local knowledge and current map material. Accordingly, the members of the cave rescue are recruited from these associations.
Emergence
Cave rescue emerged in the 1960s, although the area of application mostly related to the rescue of comrades within the various cave exploration groups, as cave tourism did not exist in its current form. In Carinthia, for example, there was a cave rescue plan since 1967. Hermann Kirchmayr, Edith Bednarik and Günther Gsenger could be named as people from the very beginning. In the beginning there was also no subsidy whatsoever, so that much of the necessary equipment consisted of discarded and self-made pieces.
While the cave rescue had to take care of the alarm at the beginning, this is now partially taken over by them through increased cooperation with other emergency organizations. Thanks to the subsidization that is now ongoing, it is also possible to use standardized and tested equipment.
literature
- Austrian Cave Rescue - Federal Association: The Austrian Cave Rescue - an organization introduces itself. 2012.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.oehr.at/index.php
- ↑ 1971 activity reports of the associations affiliated to the Association of Austrian Speleologists (PDF; 2.9 MB), accessed on April 28, 2012