LATE 2019: Cornwall search and rescue team becomes two Cornwall might not be a place that immediately springs to mind when you think ‘mountain rescue’ but this furthermost south-western tip of England doesn’t have just one mountain rescue team but two. With one of the largest operational areas in England and Wales, the team has been operating as two sections since its formation in 2003, broadly following the Truro (west) and Plymouth (east) postcode areas. But, due to the logistics of recruitment, training and responding quickly across their ‘patch’, in late 2019, two new charities were formed: East Cornwall SRT and West Cornwall SAR, with bases located in Bodmin and Redruth, equipped and ready to respond independently. More complex mine rescues run jointly to allow more coordinated working with Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service. ‘There have been many challenges in splitting a well-established team in half,’ says Jim Gallienne, from East Cornwall, ‘but, as the two new teams consolidate and grow, the benefits to the people of Cornwall will be apparent. We have between 40 and 60 incidents a year, predominantly missing person searches and, with an area extending from Land’s End in the west to Bude in the north, it can take two hours on a good day to get from one end to the other — about 88 miles and not a motorway in sight, but almost that again to get through it in summer! Trying to get volunteers to maintain the enthusiasm to travel to and from training and call-outs — sometimes running over several days — meant we had a high turnover of members. Add to that the cost of fuel almost doubling since 2003, and factoring in members’ finances and time meant we had to change. Above: Preparing for the stretcher lower of an injured walker at Cheesewring, Bodmin Moor (East Cornwall) March 2020. Inset: Rescue of an injured female from Golitha Falls, East Cornwall. August 2019. ‘The benefits to the people and visitors are already apparent, with better response times and local membership. Time and again, ‘mountain’ rescue has been proved to be a transferrable set of skills as relevant to Cornwall as anywhere else — unusual at first but now a respected and well known emergency service across the county, by our statutory partners and the public. Both teams have worked hard to meet the local operational needs, and we look forward to continuing to work with our colleagues regionally and nationally, albeit under two new badges.’
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