The Benalmádena firefighter who headed to Switzerland to put his skills to the test

Miguel Gutiérrez has been a firefighter in Benalmádena for 25 years. His dream was to have joined the mountain rescue group of the Guardia Civil, but a femur injury cut that destiny short and put another one in front of him, that of a firefighter. It was then that he decided to make his dream his passion and specialise in everything related to the rescue of victims.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, throughout his entire professional career with the local fire brigade on the Costa del Sol, he has never participated in a rescue, beyond a twisted ankle in the mountains. "There are no high or even medium-sized mountains here," he said. What Benalmádena does have is a cable car, and there are few towns that have such a facility. But it is extremely safe and, so far, has never caused the slightest scare. And if it did, "it would be easy", Miguel added. "There’s a protocol that requires us to carry out a drill every year. That means we are trained and have all the necessary equipment," he explained.

With this in mind, the firefighter understood some time ago that if he wanted to put into practice everything he had learnt about rescues it had to be through simulations. So, together with the Malaga rescue team, he started to participate in the GrimpDay world championships, which is held every year in Belgium, although this year it took place in Switzerland.

This year was the third edition in which he has participated and he has just returned from Geneva. This year, 34 rescue teams from all over the world competed and Malaga came eleventh. The first year they were sixth. At a national level, Spain has a similar championship, called Rescue GrimpDay, which is held in Seville. A Malaga team has participated in it five times and have managed to win it twice.

These competitions are based largely on the endurance of the participants and are not easy. "This year in Switzerland we simulated four rescues per day. There have been colleagues from other groups who have not been able to complete them," said Miguel, who explained that the competition lasted three days, and in all of them the tests to be solved followed the same dynamic. "They were all complicated and required a lot of physical effort. There was always a victim, you have to find them, put them on a rope, raise them, lower them or move them from one side to the other. And in all cases the organisers took into account the time it takes, how safely you do it and how you treat the victim, among other things."