What Happens When You Call For Mountain Rescue Assistance? (Copy)
By Rob Small, EMRT's Fundraising Officer.
If you are out and about and need mountain rescue assistance please call 999 and ask for the police – then ask the police for Mountain Rescue. Be prepared to tell the police what assistance you require and where you are. An Ordnance Survey grid reference works best. Once you have made the call, keep your phone switched on and please don’t move! From your point of view, the most likely thing to happen next is that someone from mountain rescue will call you back. They will have a good local knowledge and will determine exactly what assistance you require. In the background a few things will happen first. When the police receive your call, they will contact the Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation Duty Controller. The Duty Controller is one of several experienced team members who take it in turns to monitor the phone number used by the police to contact mountain rescue, so it is answered at any time of the day and night. Once the Duty Controller has received the information you have provided to the police, they will decide which of the Peak District’s seven mountain rescue teams is best placed to assist you. Then the Duty Controller will call the chosen mountain rescue team’s Duty Leader. Like the Duty Controller the team’s Duty Leader is one of several experienced team members who take it in turns to monitor the phone number used to contact mountain rescue who are on standby 24/7.
The Edale Mountain Rescue Team
he team’s Duty Leader will be briefed by the Duty Controller and will then initiate a team call out using their experience and local knowledge to determine the best place for the team to assemble, prior to coming to your assistance. The Edale team uses the SARCALL system which allows a single message to be sent to all 50 team members simultaneously. When team members get the call out message they respond via SARCALL if they can attend, reassuring the Duty Leader that sufficient personnel are available for your rescue. Whilst team members stop what they are doing, prepare their kit and make their way towards the assembly point, the Duty Leader will call you back to confirm help is on the way and to see if anything has changed. Some team members will collect the team’s first response vehicles and head to the assembly point. Others will head to the assembly point in their own vehicles. On arrival they will collect the appropriate equipment from the team vehicles and head out to your location on foot – to provide whatever assistance you require. That assistance may involve guiding you back to a safe location, administering First-Aid, evacuation to an ambulance or a rope-assisted rescue from a dangerous location. When the rescue is completed, team members clean our kit, re-stock as required and return the vehicles to base before returning to their normal life. Every mountain rescue team member involved in that chain of events is a volunteer giving up their time to assist you.
Please support the Activ team who are walking from Totley clinic to Hope clinic to raise funds for EMRT in October. You never know when your or your loved ones may need their assistance!
Essential ‘Kit’ for Emergencies
SUGGESTED SAFETY EQUIPMENT
Above is a photograph of the safety equipment Rob Small of Edale Mountain Rescue Team takes with him when he goes out running on the hills and moors. Additional warm clothing usually hat, gloves and insulating layer (11, 12, 1). Waterproof jacket and overtrousers (2,5). Map, compass and whistle (8,9). Head torch (13). Mobile phone (used to take the picture) and powerbank (14). Lightweight polythene survival bag (10). First Aid Kit. Roll of adhesive plaster, some gauze, wound dressings, elastic stretch bandage, triangular bandage, adhesive padding for blisters, selection of adhesive dressings, wound closure strips, scissors, safety pins, pencil and waterproof paper) (15). As a contact lense wearer, he takes a case, solution and a mirror (15). Toilet paper (15). Reading glasses (6). Plus for longer runs some drink/s and suitable snacks (4,7). Think about your needs and the likely weather conditions and add and subtract from this list as appropriate to create your own pack of essential items. In severe winter conditions Rob would carry much more equipment.
The Activ Team have chosen Edale Mountain Rescue for this year’s charity fundraiser, and will be organising a team clinic-to-clinic walk from Totley to Hope in October.
If you would like to donate - click the link below!
LINK: Georgina Hollinrake is fundraising for Edale Mountain Rescue Team
