On the eve of completing 30 years of intense activities, the group Cosmo Marumbi – Corpo de Socorro em Montanha, which operates in the state park of the same name, in Serra do Mar do Paraná. It has good numbers to be proud of, but many challenges still lie ahead. The first group created to rescue people who have been injured or lost in this area, which is considered the cradle of Brazilian mountaineering, Cosmo also takes care of maintaining the trails and promoting environmental education for visitors.
“Since the park’s implementation in 1996, it was realized that, due to the demanding characteristics of its trails and roads, it would be ideal for there to be a rescue team there”, says Lineu Araújo, vice-coordinator of Cosmo and second generation of management. “The proposal has always been to be able to carry out prevention and security management there, on site”, he adds.
Cosmo’s work, Araújo emphasizes, is entirely voluntary, but it is far from being amateur. “What has held Cosmo together over all these 30 years is the management of volunteers, we have people very focused on managing these people who are not ordinary volunteers, but highly specialized.”
Araújo explains that the training course for a volunteer who wants to join Cosmo is, therefore, “almost like a college”. The student spends four years receiving theory, training and assessment until they establish themselves within the team and enter the rigorous mandatory weekend shifts — and are unpaid. Furthermore, if necessary, some can be called during the week in case of an emergency.
“We arrived at the current model because we are all mountaineers, those who founded the group were mountaineers and the first generation is still with us, they went to look for literature in Europe, where mountaineering is over 400 years old, there are rescue rules, alpine relief rules”, says Araújo. First, technicians from the Italian Alpine Speleological Relief Corps were called, who brought the technical base used in the Alps for rope rescue. “But we had to tropicalize the techniques, adapt them to the green environment, because they have snow there, we don’t have it here, so a lot of what is done there doesn’t work here”, he adds.
The basic course workload for volunteers can reach 300 hours in a year, followed by specializations. It is no surprise that a study carried out in partnership with UFPR (Federal University of Paraná) indicated, in 2019, a rescue occurrence rate of 1.68 for every 1,000 visitors. The numbers are still being updated in light of strong demand growth, but the group is optimistic.
Currently with a staff of 50 volunteers, Cosmo works in direct partnership with the local Fire Department, which is legally the institution responsible for rescues of all types in Brazil. “But, as we are inside the park, and have a differentiated knowledge of the area, we register all visitors who enter the unit and, if we see that someone has climbed the mountain but has not returned after a certain time, the person on duty activates a plan, checks the valuation form and evaluates the response they can give to the incident”, reports Araújo.
The plan, in general, includes walking the trail that the missing visitor had declared he would follow when registering for the entrance, seeking contact with him to check if it was just a delay or if it could be something more serious. “The person on duty who is there all the time to see how many people are on the mountain, who has returned, who hasn’t returned. Didn’t he find that person? Oops, we have an incident, he disappeared”, he warns. From there, the firefighters are called, while the volunteer continues searching.
“In any operation, the firefighter will be in the lead”, Araújo makes a point of stressing. “When we catch, for example, someone broken down on the trail, which happens a lot in Marumbi, we fire what we call a rabbit, the first volunteer who goes there to check the incident. Once there, he provides the first assistance, until the firefighters arrive. If the weather is good, the firefighter takes him to the helicopter, because we have this symbiotic relationship.”
The partnership is so successful that the corporation itself sends soldiers to train as rescue technicians at Cosmo. “They recognize our course as official, so whenever we open a new course, we reserve four or five places for the firefighters to send whoever they want, and they receive the rescue license to wear on their uniform, as the course follows international parameters and are achievements for everyone”, he explains.
To celebrate 30 years of this pioneering history — and which, apparently in recent years, will be increasingly necessary — Cosmo is preparing the launch of a book that will show the group’s evolution since its founding, told by its members. The title, “Tropical Delirium”, refers to the assessment made by Italian experts three decades ago, which doubted the viability of the Marumbi roads. To make the project viable, the NGO launched a fundraising campaign that can be accessed via the link https://mla.bs/0949fe6.
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