Petar Prpić, head of the HGSS Department for Information and Analytics, tells Narod.hr that rescue remains free for all victims and reveals how the service is funded and what lies behind the growing number of operations.
Saving lives in Croatia will not be charged, and the costs of interventions by the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service (HGSS) are not directly borne by the rescued citizens. This was confirmed on Tuesday for Narod.hr by Petar Prpić, head of the HGSS Department for Information and Analytics, responding to questions prompted by frequent news about rescues of tourists in Croatian mountains.
Prpić firmly dismissed the possibility that those in need of help should pay for the operation. "Regarding our rescue operations, everyone we rescue, search for, or wherever we intervene, does not pay any intervention costs. In other words, none of the rescued people directly bear the cost of the intervention," Prpić stated for Narod.hr.
The perception that HGSS primarily rescues irresponsible tourists is also countered by the statistical data Prpić presented. "75% of those rescued in HGSS operations are Croats. The rest are tourists," he emphasized. He explained that although the seasonal increase in interventions is visible on demanding mountains like Biokovo, Dinara, and Velebit, on an annual basis, domestic citizens dominate.
Regarding the use of helicopters, which in some parts of the world may incur charges, Prpić clarifies that this depends on the management model. "What is paid in the world, if a helicopter is used, but at the moment when the helicopter is with a concessionaire or when there is a private partnership model, where in some operations the use of the helicopter is charged, states impose fines for irresponsible behavior," he said. However, the decision on possible fines for irresponsible behavior in the mountains, he emphasizes, should be made by the executive branch, not the rescue service itself.
Almost nowhere in the world is the rescue of human lives directly charged.
The funding of HGSS operations, according to Prpić, mostly comes from the state budget and the budgets of local and regional self-government units. "From the Republic of Croatia, revenues come from several ministries, and our stations are mostly funded from the budgets of cities, municipalities, and counties. Of course, there are also donations and some partnerships, but the largest part of funding comes from the state itself," he explained.
The key saving in the system lies in the fact that all HGSS members are volunteers. "The most expensive part of everything in our work is the human. We are all volunteers, so that part of the cost does not go to human resources in terms of rescue and field work; it goes to everything we need to successfully carry out a rescue operation, such as the use of vehicles, equipment, training, fuel, and the like," said Prpić.
When asked about the causes of the continuous increase in the number of interventions, Prpić dismisses irresponsibility as the main culprit. Instead, he points to a global trend of increased time spent in nature, especially pronounced after the coronavirus pandemic. "People are increasingly choosing to engage in outdoor activities, especially since COVID we have seen an explosion of outdoor activities everywhere. And simply, more and more people are moving in the mountains and in nature, and that is why we have an increase in interventions because the law of large numbers simply takes its toll," he emphasized.
He also stressed that HGSS invests significant efforts in prevention, from educating mountaineering societies to digital tools like the "Safe Trail" app. He further explained that a significant portion of operations are searches, which are not always related to tourists or hikers but also include searches for elderly and dementia patients. "The work of HGSS is not exclusively limited to what people mostly see in public and the perception that is then highlighted," Prpić concluded.
