How it works

Mountain rescue teams are called out through the police, via the 999 system, to assist the statutory services —police, fire and ambulance. They also work with the Air Ambulance and HM Coastguard helicopters as well as the search and rescue dog associations and cave rescue.

To find out more about how the teams and regions, search dogs and cave rescue work together, download our FAQs Fact File ‘About us‘.

To call for mountain or cave rescue assistance, dial 999, ask for ‘Police’ then either ‘Mountain rescue’ or ‘Cave rescue’. Download our FAQs Fact File ‘How the call-out process works‘ to find out more about who calls who and what happens next.