NW Mountain Rescue Team Annual Report

TEAM LEADER'S REPORT

This was my first year as team leader and I was given a baptism of fire with the NIMRCC assessment taking place within one month of my appointment. The commitment and competence of the team meant, however, that I need not of worried and I believe that all the members can take pride in the assessors final comments that he was confident that we could deal with any incident which might arise within our area.

Although our incident rate has not decreased this year it is still worrying to see the number of incidents where the team could have been of use, but were not tasked. These include searches for missing persons as well as those involving injuries. It is important to remember that although the team is made up of volunteers their commitment and skills equal those of any professional organisation. NWMRT is an important support resource to local emergency services which is currently being under utilised. especially in the field of missing person searches.

1996 has been a year of internal development for the team with the arrival of the pager system and the initial development of the Fermanagh First Response Group. Although the pager system is expensive to run it has revolutionised internal team communications and has drastically reduced response times. Personnel can now be directed to incidents much more effectively and efficiently. The Fermanagh First Response group has developed to a point where its members are now regularly attending team training and are fully integrated members of the team.

I believe that we have continued to progress in 1996 improving the efficiency of our service to the local community. A Lack of funding still slows the pace of our development, but nonetheless we are still fufilling our aim of developing and providing an effective remote environment and extreme terrain search and rescue service for the north and west of Northern Ireland.

SEAMUS BRADLEY - TEAM LEADER

INCIDENT REPORT

An incident is logged when the team, or one of its members, is involved in or requested to attend an emergency situation where equipment or training provided by the team influences the outcome of that situation.

Donegal 2nd January

Team requested to stand-by to assist in a large scale search for a missing boy in the Donegal Town area. Boy found safe and well and team stood down.

Derry City 21st April

Team requested to assist in large shore search of Lough Foyle for a missing person. A body was located and recovered by Foyle Search and Rescue seven days after thIs search frorn the River Foyle.

Slemish 28th April

Team requested to stand-by after a Duke of Edinburgh Expedition group were reported overdue. Minor injuries had been reported amongst group members. Hasty search by members on scene located the group who were able to walk to their RV point without further assistance.

Belfast Hills Walk 24th May

A severe change in weather conditions caught a number of particpants during the course of the walk and produced a large number of people showing early symptoms of hypothermia. Walk was abandonded and the team treated up to thirty people before helping to organise transport for all walk particpants back to the start of their walk.

Glenariff Forest Challenge Walk 7th June

1)Team assisted a 26 year old female with a soft tissue leg injury. She was transported to the walk finish and advised to seek professional medical advice.

2)Team assisted 32 year old male with a soft tissue ankle injury. He was able to finish the walk without further teani assistance.

3)A party of four was reported overdue by a worried family member.A hasty search located the family safe and well nearby as the rest of the team mobilised.

Croagh Patrick Pilgrimage Walk 28th July

1)The team responded to a 14-year-old male who had slipped on the main scree slope. He was found to be suffering from shock with a suspected fractured right knee and facial injuries. He was collared by the team medics and his knee was splinted before being evacuated to the medical base by stretcher.

2) A 32-year-old male slipped on scree and collided with another pilgim. He suffered a head injury and was suffering from shock. He was evacuated by stretcher to the medical base.

3) The second casualty from the above incident was a 17-year-old male who escaped with minor cuts and bruises. Team members walked him off to the medical base.

4) The team responded to a 28-year-old female with a suspected spinal injury. She was collared and the team carried her down the mountain to a waiting ambulance which transferred her to Castlebar Hospital.

5) The team assisted in the evacuation of a 30-year-old male with suspected arm and rib fractures to the medical base.

Glover Highlander Walk 9th September

1) The team responded to reports from the organisers of a participant having an eplieptic fit at the event start. On arrival, no sign of casualty, further investigation revealed that incident had actually taken place much earlier and casualty had recovered.

2) The team responded to reports from the organisers of a participant with a soft tissue leg injury on the miner's track on Muckish. Particpant located and advised to go to nearest hospital.

3) Team members on the walk route responded to a report of a participant with a leg injury on Errigal, on arrival particpant was found to have a minor soft tissue injury and managed to walk off without further assistance.

TOTAL INCIDENTS 15

EQUIPMENT REPORT

The first aid and medical equipment has continued to increase in both quantity and complexity and the team's first aid officer is looking after this. One problem, however, is ensuring the dry storage of this equipment as damp has been a problem in the past. The landrover is running well although a major mechanical failure in early i 997 meant that it was off the road for around two and a half weeks. Thankfully an outside body was able to carry out the necesscary repairs quickly and efficiently. The Incident Control Unit and team radios still have to be stored away from the store, as the physical space simply does not exist to keep them there. Clearly a much more efficient response could be made to large-scale incidents if all our equipment was stored at a central location.

The small rescue trailer was relocated to Gortatole OEC in Co Fermanagh from where the Fermanagh First Response Group have 24hr access to it for incidents in that area. This relocation means that the Fermanagh group now have basic equipment with which to locate and access a casualty. It is hoped that funding will become availible in 1997 to further upgrade this equipment.

Overall 1997 has seen the team renew and update some of its older equipment to ensure that it can maintain its service to the community.

This was an extremely busy year as far as training was concerned. We began in January with a number of visits and joint exercises with the fire crews of Limavady and Dungiven. These were highly sucessful and hopefully we can build on the relationship which was formed.

In late April we were formally assessed, in line with the other teams, by NIMRCC. The assessor was Mick Tighe, Professional Mountain Guide and member of Lochaber MRT (Scotland). There were a few minor points highlighted which have now been attended to, but in his conclusion he stated that he "was confident that this team could handle any incident which may occur on their patch."

May saw another three members attend the excellent Technical Rock Rescue Course run by Qldham MRT in Oldham. A large number of members attended the NIMRCC one day seminar in August and ten members attended the joint MRC/IMRA conference in Dublin in September.

Standards have continued to rise this year with a number of members sucessfully completing ELB levels courses through Gortatole QEC and other members attending Rescue and Emergency Care Courses with both IMRA and Tollymore Mountain Centre. The training system itself has continued to develop and by mid 1997.  It is hoped that each team member will be operating under the training logbook system. This should raise personal skill standards even further.

Seamus Bradley

Training Officer 1996

OTHER DUTIES

The team continued to develop its Preventative Search and Rescue (PSAR) programme this year with visits to youth groups, Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme participants, scout groups and rambling clubs. We averaged one visit per month to these groups.

We also increased our role of providing cover at large outdoor events with the team covering the inaugral Outward Bound Lakeland Challenge walk and also travelling to Co Mayo to assist the Western Mountain Rescue Association in their coverage of the Croagh Patrick Pilgrimage walk. These were in addition to our annual coverage of the Belfast Hills Walk, Glenariff Forest Challenge, Iron Mountain Challenge in Co Fermanagh and the Glover Highlander Walk in Co Donegal.

As always fundraising was another important duty which had to be carried out by team members and this year on top of the annual flag days a number of members undertook a sponsored parachute jump in aid of the team.