Whilst most of the Team were away in the Cairngorms winter training, the remaining few alongside North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team had to deal with an incident involving two walkers.
The walkers had rung Northumbria Police stating they were overdue and still six miles from their vehicle, with the weather closing in. The walkers were, however, able to safely make their way off the hill to Low Bleakhope farm where they were met by Police officers. They were then taken back to their car.
The incident involved 2 members being deployed in a 4×4 with further members on standby for 1 hour.
Northumbria Police requested our assistance to help in the search for missing Newcastle woman, Margaret MacDermott.
Margaret was last seen at her home on Bolbec Road in Fenham on Friday evening. Her car was found parked on Broad Chare on Newcastle Quayside, and we undertook a search of the surrounding areas.
If you have seen Margaret, or have any information about where she may be, then please contact police on 101 quoting reference 782 13/02/16.
No sooner had we stood down from one incident and returned to base, another incident came in close to where we had just been!
Northumbria Police requested our assistance with locating a female and her son. The female was driving to a holiday cottage when she took a wrong turn and ended up on rough track before getting her car stuck.
Whilst North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team’s Land Rover and three Team members headed out west again, two of our Incident Controllers liaised with the Police and began to coordinate a search of the drivable tracks in the area. After an hour the female and her son were located safe and well north of Wall Shield.
The Team was called to assist the North East Ambulance Service with the evacuation of a male walker in his 50s. The walker had sustained a serious lower leg injury on Hadrian’s Wall above Hotbank Crags.
Along with North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team, Team members carried and sledged the injured walker off the hill on a Bell stretcher to the crewed Ambulance at Hotbank Farm.
We hope the walker makes a full and swift recovery, and is out on the hills again very soon.
Those wanting to apply should be: – Physically fit – Confident in their own ability to navigate safely through mountainous environments whilst the weather is unfavourable. – Prior winter walking or mountaineering experience would be advantageous although not essential. – For practical reasons (cost and time spent training) the Team are looking for individuals that are settled in the region and can demonstrate a long term commitment to Mountain Rescue. – For insurance reasons, those applying should be aged between 18 and 70.
The Team is particularly interested in receiving applications from those living or working in the following areas: – Wooler – Alnwick – Rothbury – Along the Tyne Valley west of Newcastle – Bellingham
To apply, please email the Team’s Secretary via info@nnpmrt.org for an application form, which should be completed and returned no later than the end of February 2016. Interviews and an initial hill skills assessment will take place in April.
Successful applicants will receive a year of training in search skills, radio communications, pre-hospital medical care, technical rescue skills, working with helicopters and winter skills before graduating to the call out list. Once on the call out list, the Team’s highly trained volunteers respond to emergencies at the request of the emergency services when the specialist skills of Mountain Rescue are required.
Calls for assistance include not only searches for, and rescues of, walkers, fell/trail runners, mountain bikers and other outdoor enthusiasts in the uplands of Northumberland but also the search and rescue of missing children and vulnerable adults in rural and urban settings. Responding to such emergencies and helping those in need is extremely rewarding. During 2015 the Team responded to 56 incidents, its busiest year on record. The incidents included 23 searches for lost or overdue walkers and vulnerable or despondent individuals, 20 rescues for climbers, fell/trail runners and horse riders, and 2 resilience incidents where NNPMRT responded to assist those affected by the recent flooding across Northumberland.
NNPMRT provides a search and rescue service for the whole of the Northumbria Police area, which covers 2,159 square miles. The largest area covered by any Mountain Rescue team in England. The area extends from Sunderland in the South East, to Alston in the South West, and to the Scottish Border in the North. The Team relies on the diversity of both its volunteers’ locations and working patterns to provide a reliable service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
A short lived incident this evening with a positive outcome. A family of three became lost in woods near Hexham.
Northumbria Police contacted the Team for assistance and to see whether the SMS location app, SARLOC, we use could pin point the exact location of the family. No sooner had the Police contact ourselves and North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team, we were stood down as the family had been located by the Police. All three were safe and well.
The incident lasted 4 minutes and involved one Team member!
Earlier today we received a request from Northumbria Police to assist in the search for Leanne Bramwell who was believed to be in the Widdrington or Cresswell. We responded along with North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team.
Thankfully as one of our Incident Controllers was en-route to the briefing with the Police, Leanne was found safe and well. The positive outcome meant that our Team members could continue to Lyon Work & Rescue at Tebay, Cumbria for a training day. More on this later!
A total of 2 members were involved for 40 minutes.
Half of the group were involved in a session delivered by MIND on dealing with mental health issues. A very informative session which should us to better support Team members who might following a traumatic incident suffer from mental health issues.
The other half of the group looked at the newly updated stretcher bed fitting in the back of one of our Land Rover 4×4 ambulances and practised setting up the satellite Broadband system so that we have access to the Internet wherever we are.
Two walkers had contacted Northumbria Police to say they were lost in Kielder Forest. From the information received they were believed to be near Chirdon Head on a drivable track.
As our incident controllers tried to establish a more accurate location using SARLOC and by talking to the walkers, the Police dispatched local officers in a 4×4 vehicle.
Search Dog Tess got her first call out last night just 4 days after becoming operational. Northumbria Police requested our assistance after reports from the public concerned about a distressed female near Whitburn Golf Course.
We, alongside North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team, undertook a search of the area however the lady was not found.
She was last seen by the caller walking in the direction of Quarry Lane, returning to the path and heading towards the nature reserve. The woman was wearing a light coloured dress, black tights with a seam down the back, a hat with a rim around it and a scarf covering her face.
Anyone with information should contact Northumbria Police on 101 quoting reference 696 220116.
The incident involved 17 Team members for 5 hours.
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