Salvamont Bihor County Service

The County Public Salvamont Service of Bihor (Serviciul Public Județean Salvamont Salvaspeo Bihor) is a county-council institution which, under Government Decision No. 77/2003, coordinates accident prevention and rescue in the mountains of its county: it patrols trails, staffs rescue bases and refuges, searches for missing people, gives first aid and takes the injured to hospital. According to the National Association of Romanian Mountain Rescuers it was founded in 1982/1987. The service rescues both in the mountains and in the caves of the Apuseni — one of Romania's largest karst areas.

How to call for help

Call the National Salvamont Dispatch on '0SALVAMONT' (on a phone keypad, zero followed by the word SALVAMONT; the digits are shown below) or dial 112. The dispatcher passes the call straight to the rescuers of your county. The official Salvamont app sends dispatchers your coordinates, altitude and battery level, but it works only with phone numbers registered in Romania; with a foreign SIM, phone instead.

When you call, give:

• your name and phone number;
• what happened (injury, illness, people lost);
• where and when it happened and how many people need help;
• the condition of the injured;
• the weather on site.

After the call, stay where there is mobile coverage and wait for the rescuers; give first aid, shelter from bad weather and keep the injured warm.

Area and stations

The service covers the Bihor part of the Apuseni: the Bihor and Vlădeasa mountains with the Padiș karst plateau, gorges, caves and sinkholes, Pădurea Craiului, Codru-Moma and the Stâna de Vale resort. No official list of its bases is published on its websites.

Good to know

• The same '0SALVAMONT' number also answers questions about weather and trail conditions — call before you set out.
• The Salvamont app does not work with foreign numbers — save the dispatch number in your phone in advance.
• On Padiș it is easy to get lost in fog among forests and sinkholes — carry an offline map.