A LITTLE HISTORY

• The Mountain Rescue Service (MRS) was created in November 1933 by members of the Bulgarian Alpine Club, the Bulgarian Mountaineering Union, the Youth Mountaineering Union and the Sofia Ski Club. The founders Emanuil Sharankov, Boyan h. Stamov, Lyuben Telcharov, Alexander Belkovski and Vassil Radev form an organizing committee. A little later Ivan Borov, Nikola Mironski and Nikola Boshnakov join in.
• During the first years there was little activity, the equipment was close to none, the financial sources were scarce. In the period 1935-1938 the Service became more active. First-aid kits were delivered to three Vitosha huts - Aleko, Kumata and Momina Skala. Rescue teams were formed, comprising four rescuers and a medical doctor each. These teams began giving shifts on weekends at the three huts, mentioned above. In 1938 the first "Internal Rules of MRS" of the MRS were adopted. In 1940 a committee, chaired by Lyuben Todorinov, took over the MRS and established cooperation with the Bulgarian Youth Red Cross. The two organizations agreed to have a joint Steering Committee and to have doctors from the Youth Red Cross participate in the rescue teams. Between 1942 and 1943 the activity was gradually reorganized. The Bulgarian Mountaineering Union provided a subsidy of 150 000 leva used to buy equipment and special clothing. A light rescue sledge was introduced in use for transporting injured people, based on the project of the well-known climber Konstantin Savadjiev. In the winter of 1943 alone, 14 seriously injured skiers were transported from Vitosha to the Red Cross Hospital. The first badge of the MRS was introduced - a green cross with an edelweiss.
• After the War the first mountain rescue teams were created outside the capital - in Samokov, 1948 and Plovdiv, 1949. Following a decision of the Bulgarian Mountaineering Union, the Red Cross, the Sports Federation and the MRS, the latter moved under the auspices of the Bulgarian Red Cross in 1951. The main purpose was to create possibilities for more efficient funding, structural growth and independence from the Mountaineering Union and the Sports Federation. By 1965 twenty-eight rescue teams throughout the country existed. There were more than 300 trained rescuers. The first legislation regulating mountain rescue appeared.
• In 1971 the MRS was accepted as a member of the International Organization for Mountain Rescue (IKAR) . We are the sixth member of that organization. Our predecessors had to prove with many documents, numbers and statistics the effectiveness of the MRS and defend its place in IKAR. Being a regular member of IKAR, the MRS has an access to information on the techniques and tactics of the alpine mountain rescue, the contemporary teaching and training methods, modern rescue equipment. This was one of the main venues for the modernization of the mountain rescue in Bulgaria during the period 1971-1980. The training of avalanche rescue dogs was initiated in 1974 and the beginning of helicopter rescue was set in 1975.

Dozens of instructors worked selflessly for the modernization of the MRS. Hundreds of young trainees acquired qualifications and became rescuers. We must pay tribute to two of the main figures during these glorious times - Kiril Petrov (1930-1997), Head of the MRS, who contributed enormously to the contemporary organization of the MRS and the development of the dog rescue teams - and Peter Moskov (the TEACHER) (1930-1985), chief instructor in the MRS, who has extreme contribution for introducing and mastering contemporary techniques and tactics of mountain rescue. The latter authored the firs textbook on mountain rescue in Bulgaria