Taiwan’s sports culture is booming, with jogging and hiking being among the most popular activities. However, incidents of hikers getting lost are frequent. According to statistics from the New Taipei City Fire Department, from January last year to March this year, there were 33 cases involving 73 lost hikers, averaging about 2 cases and 5 people per month—a relatively high frequency, mostly concentrated in mountainous areas such as Pingxi, Shuangxi, Gongliao, and Shiding.
The Council of Agriculture’s Soil and Water Conservation Bureau reports that New Taipei City covers a total land area of approximately 205,257 hectares, of which about 110,131 hectares are mountainous, accounting for roughly 54% of the city’s total land area, making it the region with the most extensive mountain terrain in northern Taiwan.
New Taipei City Fire Department Disaster Rescue and Ambulance Command Center Director Luo Kaiwen stated that due to the city’s mountainous landscape, cases of hikers getting lost occur frequently, and most incidents happen in remote mountains without clear landmarks or features. Even when hikers manage to call for help on their mobile phones, rescuers often spend 4 to 6 hours locating them due to the challenging terrain.
When Luo Kaiwen took office as the head of the Fourth Disaster Rescue and Ambulance Brigade in May of the previous year, he found that Shiding’s Bijia Mountain, with its steep slopes and winding ridgelines, offers spectacular views that have made it a popular destination for hikers. However, due to its complex terrain, the area has seen frequent mountaineering accidents. In 2011 and 2012, there were 11 and 12 cases of hikers getting lost respectively, resulting in 7 people missing or killed and 6 injured.
Luo Kaiwen and Huang Qingquan, the deputy team leader of the Shiding Fire Station, recalled the story of Hansel and Gretel from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, where the two siblings used small stones to mark their path, eventually escaping the witch’s candy house and finding their way home. Inspired by this, starting in March last year, they installed “Rescue Location Markers” at various hiking trail entrances and ridge junctions on Bijia Mountain and Emperor Terrace. To date, a total of 15 marker signs have been set up.
Huang Qingquan said the Shiding team also recorded the coordinate data for each “Rescue Location Marker.” Not only can hikers use these markers to identify directions, but if they get lost, they can simply provide the nearest marker number or use their smartphone’s GPS to allow rescuers to quickly pinpoint their location for rescue.
According to fire department statistics, since April last year, five hikers who got lost in the Bijia Mountain area were rescued within three hours after providing the number of the nearest marker, saving approximately half the usual search and rescue time.
Given the success of the “Rescue Location Markers” initiative led by the Shiding team, the fire department is considering expanding the program to other popular hiking spots across the city, including Pingxi, Shuangxi, Ruifang, Gongliao, Wulai, Wugu, Xizhi, and Sanxia, aiming to secure the golden rescue window for mountain accidents.