Saving lives in wild and remote places
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Saving lives in wild and remote places
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13 May 2008 - MR Video Released
A video about MR featuring Lakes Teams has been released. You can see a copy of it here
A copy to download will be available on this site shortly.
23 July 2007 - Local West Country Volunteer Mountain Rescue Teams in Flood Action
Teams from Avon & Somerset Search and Rescue (A&S SAR) based in Bristol, S Glos, BANES, N Somerset & Mendip, together with Severn Area Rescue Association\'s (SARA) teams stations based at Beachley, Sharpness and Wyre Forest (Arley) have all been working throughout North Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, alongside the local Police, Fire and Ambulance
Services since the start of the flash floods on Friday.
Each team, equipped with a four wheel drive vehicles, trailers with lifeboat or rescue boats and rescue / medical / communication equipment have been
deployed with the statuary emergency services to rescuing people of all ages from homes or stranded vehicles and attending 999 medical emergency response calls where the ambulances could not get through due to the depth of flood water. These highly trained emergency service rescue teams are all unpaid
volunteers who have been working up to 14 hour shifts before handing over their equipment to new rested teams to carry on the work continuously throughout Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Regional Officer, Alan George said: \"I am immensely proud of our teams who have all given gallant service to the community during this Major Incident. These men and women have all selflessly given their time and endured hardship and hazards. To provide this important life saving emergency service. The work has been long, hard and demanding both on the members and equipment.\"
During the period of Friday through to Sunday A&S SAR and SARA:
Recovered 800+ persons to a place of safety
Rescued 240+ persons where life was at direct risk
Attended 95+ medical emergency responses
Evacuated 50+ pets & animals
Assisted with the movement of 120+ persons from care or nursing homes
This is believed the highest recorded numbers of persons assisted or lives saved at any incident in the almost 75 year history of Mountain Rescue in
England & Wales.
1 July 2007 - Busy night for Wasdale handling 3 Peakers
Wasdale MRT was called to rescue a young male walker who had collapsed on the summit of Scafell Pike. He was in a party of three who were doing the Three Peaks Challenge. The three walkers were all in the twenties and from outside the area. One of the party had become separated from the other two whilst he was trying to get help from his mobile phone. He had a GPS but could only give a height reading. The team searched where the party said there were but did not find anyone. The team widened the search and at 3.45 a.m. the collapsed walker was found on the Eskdale side of the mountain. He was given food and warmed in a bivvy tent and could eventually be walked off the mountain down to Wasdale Head. After a further search the third missing walker was located. He was assisted back up to the summit and also walked off the mountain. Whilst searching for the collapsed walker a further group of four walkers were found sheltering in the Mickledore stretcher box. They were subsequently reported missing by the police but fortunately the team had already found them and escorted them off the mountain. The team had significant difficulty getting the rescue vehicles back down the valley due to the severe congestion on the road from Three Peaker challenge vehicles parked up
17 May 2007 - PRINCE WILLIAM BECOMES PATRON OF
MOUNTAIN RESCUE - ENGLAND & WALES
Prince William announced yesterday that he is to become patron of Mountain Rescue – England & Wales, the organisation which represents over 55 Mountain Rescue teams in those countries. The announcement follows the Prince’s work experience with an RAF mountain rescue team in the period before he joined the army, and comes as mountain rescue prepares to celebrate it’s 75th anniversary in 2008.
Chairman of Mountain Rescue – England & Wales, David Allan, commented: “It is with great delight and pride that we are able to announce that Prince William has taken on the role of Patron for Mountain Rescue in England and Wales.
For many years we have deliberated whether mountain rescue should seek a patron who holds a prominent position in the country. These discussions have always foundered because we have been certain that we could only work with someone who empathised with mountain rescue and its raison d’etre
We believe that, apart from the honour bestowed, there will be very tangible benefits to mountain rescue. We also sincerely hope that Prince William will gain from his association with our organisation. He has expressed a desire to be involved and to meet the people who deliver the service on the hill and we look forward to that.”
7 May 2007 - 4th May 2007
Broad Stand is a deceptively difficult route between Scafell and Scafell Pike. For many years it has been one of the accident black spots in Wasdale.
Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team were called out at 2.15 pm after a report of a 59 year old male walker having fallen from Broad Stand. Great North Air Ambulance was used to ferry 4 team members to the scene before an RAF Seaking helicopter from RAF Boulmer arrived to ferry more team members to the accident site.
The casualty was treated on scene by a doctor from the Wasdale team before being flown direct to West Cumberland Hospital at Whitehaven. Unfortunately the casualty failed to recover from his injuries.
22 February 2007 - The Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue team hold their annual Falcon Flier challenge walk on the 5th of May - a 26 mile walk round the Eastern side of the North York Moors.
The money raised will go towards getting a new team ambulance.
Entry forms are on the teams web site at http://www.srmrt.org.uk/
22 February 2007 - Monday 19 February 2007
Family of 4 brought to safety in atrocious weather
Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team were called out at 19.30 last night to search for a family of 4, mother, father, 5 year old son and 14 month baby who were reported missing having last been seen on the summit of Scafell Pike at 16.00. After searching for 2 hours in very poor weather conditions of heavy rain and thick cloud the party were found uninjured in Piers Gill, a notorious accident “black spot” in the Wasdale valley.
Although unhurt, the family was very cold and wet, and evacuation from the steep and rocky gill took some time.
The 5 year old was carried down by stretcher, mum and dad walked and the 14 month toddler slept through it all!
The family were given food and warm drinks by the Wasdale Head Inn who kindly agreed to stay open until 0400 in the morning.
The family were fortunate in having spoken to a fellow fellwalker earlier in the day who raised the alarm when he recognised that their car had not been moved long after dark.
In total 19 team members from the Wasdale team, 14 from Duddon and Furness, 9 from the Keswick team and 4 dogs with handlers from SARDA (Lakes) took part in the 9 hour rescue.
29 December 2006 - Boxing Day Rescue
Wasdale team were called out by Cumbria Police to rescue an injured person on Kirk Fell. The middle aged walker was descending from the summit of Kirk Fell down towards Blacksail Pass. The man, his son and girlfriend were descending via Sail Beck, in a steep gulley which leads from Baysoar Slack when he slipped on the ice and sustained a serious head injury and other less severe injuries. The son raised the alarm, running down to the valley bottom and then returning to the accident site. 19 members of the Wasdale team were involved in the rescue including the four team doctors who were crucial to casualty care management in this incident. The cloud was down to 1,000 feet and casualty location was 1,800 feet so helicopter evacuation was not possible. Freezing level was around 700 feet which had coated all the paths and rocks with a thin layer of verglass ice, extremely slippery underfoot. Due to the serious nature of his injuries, the team leader called in assistance from the Cockermouth Mountain Rescue team (around 8 - 10 team members). In addition a Sea King helicopter was called in from Royal Navy Gannet, Prestwick to land-on in the Ennerdale Valley bottom and await the stretcher party. The injured walker was airlifted at around 8.45 p.m. to be flown the 10 minute journey to West Cumberland Hospital. The incident was closed at 10.30 p.m. Thanks go to The Royal Navy and Cockermouth Team for their assistance.
12 October 2006 - News Update
In the life of any organisation, there are ups and downs. Monday 9th October was definitely in the latter category for Cornwall Search & Rescue Team.
Ironically, as the police were paging us for the 39th call-out this year (1 short of our 2004 total) we learned that our Control Vehicle had been broken into.
Thieves had forced entry to the compound where it is stored and broken in to the vehicle, which has only been in service since the start of this year.
They stole 6 Icom Radios, complete with spare batteries, carrying case & charger unit, a fuel card and blue lights from the front and side of the vehicle. Some damage has been caused to the van in the process.
The vehicle, a Peugeot Boxer high-top van, became a crime scene and so we could not use it to respond to the call-out in the Portreath area. It may be a cliché to say but this irresponsible act DID put lives at risk. Luckily, we have two vehicles and our Landrover was able to attend the incident but of course with only half the kit we would normally take.
We are pleased to report a happy ending to the search (the man turned up safe and well) and we would appeal to the thieves to consider what they have done and return the items stolen – they can be of no possible use to them.
In the meantime, we would like to thank Hawkins Motors for their ongoing support to the team and to Devon & Cornwall Police for the swift way in which the theft was dealt with.
27 February 2006 - Camera flash locates lost walkers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/4747112.stm
27 February 2006 - Llanberis team rescues children on Snowdon.
See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/4741764.stm
6 February 2006 -
31 January 2006 - Sunday 29th January 2006
Edale Team respond to two incidents at Curbar Gap
First Incident
EMRT was called out this morning at 10:38 to help a woman, 57, from Loughborough, who had been walking on Big Moor with her husband when she injured her leg.
She was treated for her injury at the scene by team members before being carried on the stretcher to Curbar Gap for transport to hospital in Chesterfield by ambulance.
Second Incident
Immediately afterwards the team responded quickly to a report that a man had suffered a cardiac arrest less than a kilometre away from Curbar Gap on Baslow Edge. The team doctor, team members and air ambulance paramedics provided advanced life support for the man for over half an hour, during which our new defibrillator was used. Sadly, despite the dedicated attempt to revive him, he was pronounced dead at the scene by our team doctor, before being carried back to Curbar Gap on our stretcher.
28 November 2005 - Search & Rescue Team in thick of Action in Cornwall Blizzards
Cornwall Rescue Group, the county’s voluntary search & rescue team, were amongst the many emergency resources deployed on Friday as Cornwall suffered blizzards which left hundreds of motorists stranded across Bodmin Moor.
Barely two weeks after putting out an appeal for help to find a new base, the volunteers from CRG showed just why there is a need for their service as their off-road ambulances and fully equipped rescue teams supported colleagues from other emergency services battling to deal with the hundreds of incidents arising from the arctic conditions.
CRG Team Leader, Jim Gallienne, explains. “We were called in mid-afternoon to assist with a rapidly deteriorating situation. Fortunately, we operate two Landrover ambulances which are capable of responding to off-road incidents and so though conditions were difficult we were able to respond to a variety of taskings.
“We based ourselves at Bodmin Police Station and had teams responding to calls ranging from an overturned fire engine to a stranded mother and baby.
Working alongside collegues from Police, Fire, Ambulance and Coastguard, our team members worked on late into the night before eventually being stood down, ” said Jim.
Team members came from all over the county to assist. Alison Harrison from Newquay found herself accompanying a police patrol checking abandoned vehicles on the A30 whilst her partner, Steve Payne spent much of the night transporting cold, tired and hungry people to the reception centre set up in Bodmin.
CRG Chairman, Andy Brelsford, said “Jim and I were in the Lake District at the start of the day having earlier attended a Mountain Rescue training session on avalanches, blizzards and treatment of hypothermic casualties. Little did we know how quickly that specialist knowledge might be needed. We came straight back to the county as soon as we heard what was happening.”
But as team members made their way home to catch some well earned rest, they were already preparing for further duties. Deputy Team Leader Paul Deakin, from Redruth, said “The first thing we do after every call-out is prepare for the next. That is why we are desperate to find a suitable base.
“Although we have done as much as we can tonight, it is almost certain that we will be involved again tomorrow and we need to recharge torches & radios and replenish first aid kits. Without a base of our own, we have to rely on members to do those things at home which is less than ideal.”
Although only operational since November 2003, this is the second time the volunteers from CRG have been involved in a major incident having attended the Boscastle floods in August 2004.
You can find out more about the work of Cornwall Rescue Group from their website – www.cornwallrescuegroup.org.uk