Cave rescue
A cave rescue is a special charity or a specific action, whose mission is to rescue injured caver or tourists from caves and underground cavities.
Organization / structure
The Cave Rescue is regulated differently in many countries or states and organized. Some of them performed by firefighters or mountain rescue. In some German states and in many Alpine regions own cave rescues, predominantly composed of cavers, such as the Cave Rescue Baden- Württemberg exist.
Formation
The local cave rescue groups have their origin in the rule in the local cave clubs and emerged from the experience that current agencies were unable to meet the requirements of a rescue in caves. So transportation of injured persons is particularly complex, requires special equipment and knowledge of the peculiarities of this environment and can also possibly take a long time. In most German karst areas, the need for specialized and highly organized cave rescue was detected during the time of the rescue, and accepted, in part, the existing groups were integrated there, depending on the province, for example, in Mountain Rescue (German Red Cross, Bavarian Red Cross ), fire or Malteser.
In Bavaria, the cave rescue from 1 January 2009, explicitly in the emergency service law ( BayRDG ) is anchored.
Tasks
In addition to efficient rescue are also prevention, training and education of cavers in the foreground. Thus, participants are taught the technique of comrades and self-rescue in various seminars.
Companion Rescue
Companion Rescue means that a non-injured comrade a casualty in the cave can provide first aid technically and medically. For rope recorded tracks in a shaft as this contains the correct freeing and draining a incapacitated patients. Companion rescue is due to the typically long period of time ( up to several hours ) between accident and arrival of the cave rescue (see treatment- free interval ) is of considerable importance, and ultimately decides the further course of a rescue. In particular, the heat preservation of the injured person and his supervisor there comes to a high value. It is recommended that in addition to a coordinated caves on first - aid kit (at least one per group) must also accompany emergency blankets (one per person).
Specific hazards in a cave
- Absolute darkness.
- Cold.
- Frames.
- Slippery Rock.
- Volatile water level.
- Exact position unknown (no GPS reception in caves ).
- No means of communication available (no radio or cell phone reception in caves ).
- Rescue without special technical material and know -how difficult to implement.
Security
- Clarify emergency numbers and procedures for emergencies in advance.
- A third, reliable person to tell the time by when you want to have to leave the cave again and from when the cave rescue to be alarmed.
- Never go alone.
- Sufficient electric light. At least two Taschen-/Stirnlampen per person with full replacement batteries.
- Sufficient heat protection. Fleece jumpsuit, Wetsuit, socks, waterproof packed spare clothes.
- Frames appropriate to avoid.
- Sturdy shoes and gloves. In committing the cave every step safely. Ensure loose boulders and avoid.
- Get information on current and expected water level. Note of year.
- Visit caves only when accompanied by a knowledgeable local person. Especially in labyrinthine cave systems with multiple parallel programs can easily lead to confusion. Cave plans on paper are due to the three-dimensional structure of a cave only to a limited useful and need for correct interpretation of a minimum level of experience and local customer.
- In an emergency, immediately perform buddy aid and quickly alert the cave rescue.
Emergency numbers
In Europe, can be used in principle to the 112 - euro emergency. In many countries, alerting the Cave Rescue directly over a defined point of contact is recommended. Be sure to specify the keyword " cave accident underground "! Confusion with the height of rescue are not excluded particularly in alerting on fire and integrated control centers and can the arrival of the cave rescuers delayed considerably.
German cave rescues are alarmed by RCCS. An alarm plan for Germany can be found on the sides of the HRVD.