As a general rule, rescues in Spain do not imply an additional cost to the acquisition and maintenance of the material and resources available to the State security forces and bodies (FCSE), as well as the emergency services of the different communities. autonomous.
However, in some of them there is legislation in force that allows a fee or penalty to be imposed on the rescued person in the event that they have committed flagrant imprudence or have not respected any security measure.
This is indicated, in statements to EFE, by the team leader of the Special Group for Rescues at Height (GERA), made up of firefighters from the Community of Madrid, Javier Apestegui, who points out that such cases are “very exceptional.”
For example, the Department of the Interior of the Generalitat of Catalonia fined 2,600 euros to two hikers who were not adequately equipped and who were helped in Ripollés (Girona) during the first state of alarm and at the beginning of home confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic. coronavirus.
Other autonomous administrations such as those of Asturias, Navarra, the Basque Country, Cantabria, the Canary Islands or Castilla y León also have different regulations in force on possible imposition of rates in reckless redemptions.
In the Community of Madrid, where the GERA has carried out up to five “risk” rescues in the last six days -among them, that of Peñalara-, the interventions of high mountain specialists do not imply any additional cost.
SUB ZERO RESCUE
Last Wednesday, a total of ten young people between the ages of 16 and 18 were rescued from Moncayo, between the provinces of Soria and Zaragoza, who for various reasons had gotten lost in the mountains, at temperatures above ten degrees below zero.
A similar thermal sensation, according to Javier Acestegui, faced his colleagues from the GERA and the Special Rescue Group for Mountain Intervention (GREIM) of the Civil Guard during the afternoon of this Thursday, when they had to rescue among the snow and in front of a strong blizzard to two hikers with mild hypothermia in the Peñalara mountain.
“It is difficult to determine when an imprudence has been committed because many people do not even imagine that in the mountains of Madrid you can experience thermal sensations of up to 25 degrees below zero”, which could cause frostbite “in a matter of minutes”, explains one of the GERA managers.
In the group, made up of more than 50 firefighters, there are specialists in climbing mountains over eight thousand meters high, who had a “really bad time” during yesterday’s rescue.
Given the forecasts of inclement weather in the high mountains, Acestegui recommends “planning” the excursions, which entails “checking the weather forecast, preparing the route and carrying the appropriate material for the environmental conditions.”
