A new vehicle strengthens the operational readiness of the HGSS Gospić station on demanding Lika terrain
The HGSS Gospić station has received a new vehicle intended for field interventions and everyday operational readiness, and the purchase was financially supported by Lika-Senj County. County Prefect Ernest Petry, accompanied by Deputy Prefect Jasna Orešković Brkljačić, visited the Gospić station of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service on 27 April 2026 on the occasion of the completion of the purchase of the vehicle, with a total value of 55 thousand euros. According to data from the county announcement, Lika-Senj County participated in this purchase with 15 thousand euros, thereby continuing its long-standing support for a service that has an exceptionally important role in searches, rescue operations and preventive activities in the county area. The County Prefect and Deputy Prefect were welcomed by the head of the HGSS Gospić station, Dario Cindrić, with members of the Station, who emphasized that the new vehicle would directly affect the efficiency of rescuers’ work in the field. The purchase of the vehicle is especially important for an area where interventions often take place far from urban centers, at road-demanding, forest, mountain, river or other hard-to-reach locations.
County support as part of a broader security system
Lika-Senj County Prefect Ernest Petry emphasized that the County recognizes the role of HGSS as one of the key components of the protection and rescue system. In an area that includes mountain, karst, forest, river, island and coastal areas, the ability to quickly reach injured persons is not only a technical issue, but also a matter of public safety. According to available information, in addition to co-financing the purchase of the new vehicle, the County also provides an additional 25 thousand euros each year for the regular operation of the HGSS Gospić station. These funds are important for equipment maintenance, member training, logistics, readiness and operating costs that accompany the work of a voluntary, but professionally organized service. The support of local and regional self-government in this case is in line with the legal framework according to which the regular activity of HGSS stations is also financed from the budgets of local and regional self-government units in whose area the stations operate. Such a model shows that safety in inaccessible areas does not depend only on individual interventions, but on continuous investment in people, equipment and mobility.
In that context, the new vehicle is not a symbolic donation, but a concrete operational tool. HGSS members do not go to interventions only with personal protective equipment, but also with stretchers, ropes, medical equipment, communication devices, search equipment, lighting, systems for working in difficult weather conditions and, when necessary, specialized means for rescue from heights, depths or water. A vehicle that can reliably transport people and equipment to the intervention site shortens response time and increases the safety of the rescuers themselves. In situations where minutes are crucial, especially in cases of injuries, hypothermia, exhaustion, missing persons or traffic and other accidents in inaccessible places, such investments have a direct impact on the quality of the intervention. That is why the message from the handover is broader than the purchase itself: it is about strengthening the ability of the local system to respond to risks arising from the county’s natural characteristics.
A station that covers a large and diverse area
The HGSS Gospić station operates in the area of Lika-Senj County and, according to HGSS data, covers almost 12 percent of the territory of the Republic of Croatia. It is an exceptionally large zone of responsibility that includes mountain massifs, forest expanses, rivers, speleological sites, the coast, parts of islands and several protected areas. Official data on the Station state that its area includes Velebit Nature Park, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Northern Velebit National Park, partly also Paklenica National Park, Grabovača Cave Park, the Lika mid-mountain area with Kapela and Plješivica, the flood area of Kosinj, the Gacka and Lika rivers, the Velebit foothill coast and part of the island of Pag. Such an area naturally attracts hikers, mountaineers, speleologists, hunters, anglers, tourists, recreationists and participants in various outdoor activities, but at the same time carries risks that cannot always be solved by ordinary emergency services or standard road access.
The special feature of the Gospić station is precisely the combination of a large surface area, diverse relief and changeable weather conditions. An intervention on Velebit, a search in a forest area, a rescue in a canyon or a response to a flood do not require the same type of approach or the same logistics. In some cases, an off-road vehicle and good coordination are decisive, in others technical knowledge of rope work, knowledge of speleological procedures, the ability to move on snow or work on water. For this reason, the HGSS Gospić station, as part of the national system of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, does not operate only in the mountains in the narrow sense of the word. Its tasks include search and rescue on inaccessible terrain, assistance in extraordinary circumstances, preventive activities and cooperation with other services when circumstances require special knowledge and equipment. The new vehicle thus gains additional value because it increases the station’s ability to respond more quickly and safely to different types of calls.
HGSS as a voluntary, professional and publicly important service
The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service is a national, voluntary, professional, humanitarian and non-partisan association of public importance. Its basic goals, according to the official description of HGSS, include preventing accidents, rescuing and providing first medical aid in mountains and other inaccessible areas. The legal framework additionally defines a series of public powers and tasks, including the training of members, searching for lost persons, rescue from speleological sites, cliffs and canyons, implementation of preventive measures, duty shifts, participation in searches for missing vehicles in inaccessible areas and cooperation with state administration bodies, local and regional self-government, institutions and other organizations. According to official data, the service territorially consists of 25 stations, and its work is based on the principle of unity: a call to one component of HGSS also mobilizes the necessary potential of the entire service, depending on the scale and circumstances of the event.
That is exactly why investments in one station cannot be viewed in isolation. Although, as a rule, the station closest to the accident site intervenes, other stations, specialist teams, search resources, search leaders, medically trained members and members trained for individual technical procedures are also included when needed. The Gospić station is therefore at the same time a local operational force and part of a national network that is activated when human life is endangered in hard-to-reach areas. The system is especially important during tourist and recreationally active periods, but also in winter months, during severe weather or in searches for missing persons.
Why mobility is crucial in searches and rescue operations
In searches and rescue operations on inaccessible terrain, the vehicle is often the first link in the intervention chain. It must enable arrival at the starting point of the search, transport of equipment, deployment of teams and, when circumstances allow, transport of the injured person to the place where emergency medical services or another competent authority can take over. In the area of Lika-Senj County, this task is additionally made difficult by distances between settlements, gravel and forest roads, mountain passes, snowy conditions, sudden weather changes and areas without simple communication coverage. The new vehicle therefore contributes not only to speed, but also to the safety of intervention planning, because operators can count on more reliable transport and greater readiness for different scenarios. In practice, this means that part of the time that would otherwise be lost to logistical obstacles can be directed to the search itself, medical assistance, technical rescue or evacuation.
Dario Cindrić, head of the HGSS Gospić station, thanked Lika-Senj County for its continuous financial support and pointed out that the new vehicle would significantly improve the operational capabilities and efficiency of the work of the Station members in the field. Such a statement reflects the real needs of a service whose work cannot be reduced to occasional interventions, but requires constant readiness. HGSS members are often volunteers who, alongside their regular obligations, undergo demanding training and respond to interventions at any time of day or night. Their expertise has full effect only when supported by appropriate equipment, vehicles and stable financing. In that sense, 15 thousand euros of county co-financing represents an investment in public safety, while the total value of the vehicle of 55 thousand euros shows how financially demanding operational resources are for such a service.
Safety in an area that connects mountains, rivers, forests and the coast
According to the official description, Lika-Senj County has a central geographical position and an important connecting significance within the territory of the Republic of Croatia, and it is located between Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Karlovac and Zadar counties and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This geographical position, together with large natural areas, makes it an area where transport, tourism, recreation, nature protection and everyday life of local communities intertwine. For HGSS, this means a wide range of possible interventions: from searches for lost persons in forests, through assistance to injured mountaineers, to rescue operations in canyons, pits, on waters or in severe weather conditions. When protected areas and a large number of visitors in certain periods of the year are added to this, it is clear why operational readiness cannot be seen as an occasional need, but as a permanent public function.
County Prefect Petry also emphasized that HGSS represents a key link in the system of protection and rescue of injured persons and that the expertise, dedication and readiness of members of the service to act in the most demanding conditions are of exceptional importance for citizens’ safety. This assessment is especially evident in situations where the standard emergency medical, police or firefighting system must rely on the specialist knowledge of mountain rescuers. The Act on HGSS provides that the service carries out search and rescue operations at the call of the 112 Center, competent authorities, local and regional self-government units and natural persons, which further confirms its role in the coordinated system of response to extraordinary events. In such a system, vehicles, communication, training and financial sustainability are not auxiliary elements, but prerequisites for effective action.
Continuous investment instead of one-time assistance
The co-financing of the new vehicle comes with the information that Lika-Senj County provides 25 thousand euros every year for the regular operation of the HGSS Gospić station. This continuity is important because the readiness of the service is not built only when an accident happens. Maintaining the level of training, purchase and servicing of equipment, technical exercises, consumables, fuel, communication devices and safety equipment require constant investment. For services that operate in complex conditions, the lack of regular financing can quickly affect the ability to intervene. That is why the model in which regional self-government regularly supports the work of the station is important for the predictability of planning and for the ability of the Station leadership to assess priorities in a timely manner.
In practice, the purchase of a vehicle can also mean lower maintenance costs of older equipment, greater reliability in winter and off-road conditions and better availability for actions that cannot be postponed. For the public, the most visible moment is when the vehicle arrives at the station, but its true value is shown in night searches, urgent field departures, transport of teams to remote points and the return of injured persons from places that cannot be accessed by ordinary vehicles. In an area such as Lika-Senj County, where natural beauty and demanding terrain are often located side by side, such logistics are an integral part of safety. The new vehicle therefore represents another step in strengthening the operational foundation of the HGSS Gospić station, and not an isolated project without broader impact.
The role of prevention and responsible stays in nature
Although the reason for the visit was the purchase of the vehicle, the work of HGSS does not begin only when an accident happens. One of the important segments of the service’s activities is prevention, that is, warning about risks, education and advising organizers of outdoor activities. The legal framework prescribes the obligations of organizers of sports, tourist and other activities in mountain and inaccessible areas, including announcing the location of activities and advising on safety measures when necessary. Such rules exist because some accidents can be avoided through responsible planning, realistic assessment of weather conditions, appropriate equipment and respect for safety recommendations. For HGSS stations, including Gospić, preventive work reduces pressure on the intervention system and increases the safety of all who spend time in nature.
Within this framework, the new vehicle can also be viewed as support for a broader spectrum of activities, from duty shifts and preventive patrols to education and preparation for larger events. The Gospić Station, according to official data, has been developing human and material-technical resources since 1989 and participating in search and rescue operations, educational and preventive activities. The continuity of such work is especially important in an area where natural conditions can very quickly change the level of risk. A sudden change in weather, snow, fog, high temperatures, torrential waters or poor assessment of one’s own abilities can lead to situations in which help from a professional service is needed. That is why every investment in HGSS equipment has a dual value: it helps in interventions, but also maintains the readiness of a system that, through its knowledge and presence, reduces the possibility of accidents.
The new vehicle for the HGSS Gospić station is therefore significantly more than administrative news about co-financing. It is part of a broader relationship between regional self-government and a service that in its everyday work assumes one of the most demanding forms of public responsibility: helping people who find themselves in danger where access is difficult, terrain unpredictable and response time crucial. With annual support for regular work, Lika-Senj County continues to strengthen the capacities of a station that operates in one of the most demanding areas in Croatia. For the members of HGSS Gospić, the new vehicle means more reliable field deployment, for the protection and rescue system a stronger operational link, and for everyone who stays, works or moves through that area an additional level of safety.
Sources:- Lika-Senj County – official data on the county and public services (link)- HGSS – official data on the Gospić Station, area of operation and station structure (link)- HGSS – official description of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service and its role (link)- HGSS – official overview of the territorial structure and 25 stations (link)- Zakon.hr – Act on the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, public powers, financing and tasks of the service (link)
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