Free mountain rescue in France could soon be a thing of the past as authorities consider whether to end the service due to mounting costs and rising inflation.
The Cour des comptes (the court of auditors - the highest court in France that assesses public spending) this week presented a 157-page report to the Senate, which recommended that:
Mountain rescue services should charge at least a partial fee for rescues that take place outside of their normal geographical remit, starting 2028.
There should be a unified force for rescues, instead of the current coexistence of three forces (see below for a breakdown)
‘Legitimate and necessary’ to charge
Mountain rescue has been free in France since a 1985 law to that effect, which itself dated back to a 1733 principle that established free rescue for individuals in need.
However, the system is now being questioned due to rising “local and national budgetary constraints”, and a sharp rise in the number of rescues over the past 10 years. The report states that a low estimate of the entire mountain rescue system cost per year was €107 million in 2024.
The report recommended: “Before the end of 2028, a charge for all or part of the cost of mountain rescue services.”
It added: “Action to charge for mountain rescue services is legitimate and necessary,” even as it acknowledged that services had been reluctant to charge in the past, and that the “prestige” of the mountain rescue units had stopped authorities from questioning the system.
This is particularly true for the high mountain gendarmerie units (PGHM, Pelotons de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne), whose expertise is greatly prized.
Rising rescues and climbing costs
Rescues have increased by 44% in the past decade due to a rise in the number of people taking part in winter sports, and climate change, which can cause more unpredictable and changing conditions in the mountains.
In 2024, there were 9,910 interventions, to assist 9,835 people (a rise of 7% compared to 2023).
The cost per intervention has also risen from €8,600 to almost €11,000, the report states, adding that this is a “conservative” estimate.
It also said that:
The overall cost of mountain rescues has risen by 55%, twice the rate of inflation.
Air transport costs have increased by 141% (and 85% of rescues are by helicopter).
This is due to the increased costs of maintaining aging helicopters, which could even lead to the "closure of some gendarmerie bases”, it said.
Prevention better than cure
The report said that preventing accidents in the first place should be a major focus.
“Prevention is a key factor in controlling public expenditure”, it said, but lamented the comparatively limited resources spent on public safety awareness campaigns by authorities such as the Ministry of Sport.
For example, it said:
€16.61 million was spent on national road safety campaigns in 2025, when road incidents accounted for 235,600 injuries and 3,193 deaths (an equivalent of €70 spent per injury, or €5,202 spent per death).
In comparison, just €100,000 was spent on mountain safety campaigns, despite mountain incidents being associated with 5,482 injuries and 266 deaths in 2024 (an equivalent of €18 spent per injury, or €375 per death).
The report also called for more personal responsibility among mountain users, and asked whether tougher penalties were needed for irresponsible behaviour, and/or the misuse of emergency services.
Yet, the court conceded that charging people for mountain rescue does not necessarily lead to a direct reduction in costs, as shown in “examples from other countries”. In Switzerland and Austria for example, mountain users are advised to take out insurance to cover the compulsory rescue charge.
The report did, however, point to certain alternative strategies used in other countries, such as Italy, where the person rescued is only charged if they are uninjured but still call for help.
Rescue service ‘tensions’
The cour des Comptes also repeated its calls for a more unified service.
Currently, mountain rescue in France is provided by three types of units:
High mountain gendarmerie units (PGHM - Pelotons de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne)
Mountain security units (CRS Montagne - Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité en Montagne)
Mountain firefighter groups (GMSP - Groupes Montagne Sapeurs-Pompiers).
The three groups work together in different ways depending on the location and the type of rescue operation, which can lead to confusion.
For example, in Haute-Savoie, gendarmes and pompiers work together. In Mont-Blanc, the gendarmes work alone. Elsewhere in the Alps, the gendarmes and CRS alternate depending on the week, but in other areas, the GMSP can intervene. In Corsica, the PGHM and gendarmes alternate each week.
In 2015, CRS personnel even protested outside of the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture building, claiming that the system was causing confusion and leading each body to “step on each others’ toes”.
The court has long called for unification; in its most recent re-evaluation in 2012 (the most recent before the current 157-page report), it denounced a “lack of consistency in the organisation and location of units”.
Now, the court has renewed its calls for less “competition” and improved effectiveness. Competing services can cause “tensions”, lead to “duplicate interventions”, and even lead to the “use of inappropriate means” in rescue operations, it said.
The report acknowledged current excellence in the overall service – for example, rescuers in Savoie take an average of just six minutes to take off following an alert – but also pointed out ways in which the system could be improved, and efficiencies made.
For example, in some areas, services carry out fewer than 10 rescues per year. Re-nationalising the entire system would spread resources more evenly, the report said.
Overall, it argued that:
The PGHM has a low level of activity in lower-altitude mountain areas.
The GMSP leads to a waste of pompiers resources that could be better used nationally.
The CRS Montagne is often not needed.
Unifying mountain rescue into a single force would save “at least 10% of the cost of the current system, or around €10 million”, the report said.
It acknowledged that few politicians would be willing to make such a dramatic change, and recommended that the pompiers be removed from mountain rescue as a first step, as this would be the easiest move to make without completely reorganising the entire national system.
“Investing in developing the pompiers mountain rescue capabilities, which compete with state services, is paradoxical”, the report states.
At the very least, it recommended that pompiers services focus on “low and medium mountain ranges and the CRS and PGHM on high mountains” only, to avoid needless competition.
Improved data collection
The report also called for the strengthening of the mountain security observatory SNOSM (Système national d’observation de la sécurité en montagne), to improve statistical collection and reliability.
If you need emergency assistance in the mountains in France, call 15 or 112.
