On Saturday 9th of November the Glen of Imaal Red Cross Mountain Rescue Team

and the Dublin & Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team attended a call on

Lugnaquilla Mountain in Co. Wicklow, their 100th call out this year. This call out

marked a significant occasion for both teams as we are the first mountain

rescue teams on the Island of Ireland to carry out 100 operations in one calendar

year.

 

Callout 99 and 100 happened simultaneously yesterday evening at approx 17.30.

An Gards Siochana tasked Wicklow’s Mountain Rescue Teams to search for two

missing female walkers who became separated from their main group while

descending Lugnaquilla.

After a short search the two woman where located and escorted to safety in

Glenmalure.

 

Callout 100 was for a missing walker who became disorientated in deteriorating

weather conditions and poor light.

The missing walker was located using technology designed for Mountain Rescue,

SARLOC. This helped to locate the man and a hasty party was deployed

to the OW valley where they located him on steep ground.

He was treated for mild hypothermia on scene and then transported to safety in a

MR 4×4 vehicle.

 

This number represents a near doubling of the amount of call outs seen in 2012,

over 30 calls more than our previous busiest year, over four thousand voluntary

man-hours and 2013 is not over yet. The teams have seen incidents ranging from

vehicles and their passengers caught in snow and ice conditions in Wicklow’s

remotest areas to lost walkers in poor weather conditions, from injured mountain

bikers to assisting other MR teams, as in the recent large search operation for a

missing walker in the west of Ireland. 192 people have been assisted and there

were 6 fatalities.

 

This unprecedented volume of calls has exposed the team to varied medical

scenarios which have all been dealt with in a highly professional manner in

sometimes very difficult environmental circumstances. The teams, this year to

date, have dealt with injuries ranging from lower leg injuries to cardiac arrests

and from serious spinal injuries to self harm.

 

Having completed our 100th call out this year The Glen of Imaal Red Cross

Mountain Rescue Team and Dublin & Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team would like

to take this opportunity to thank all our members for their commitment, their

families for their support, and to all the agencies we work with for their ongoing

assistance:

 

• An Garda Síochána

• Irish Coast Guard

• Health Services Executive (HSE) Ambulance Service

• Search and Rescue Dogs Association

• Defence Forces

• National Parks & Wildlife Service

• Coillte

• Civil Defence

• Other MR Teams

 

Finally we would like to thank all the members of the public and the walking and climbing communities, who without their constant financial support, we would be unable to operate.