TEESDALE’S volunteer rescue team has warned that maintaining sufficient numbers available for callouts will become increasingly challenging as many work for other 999 services.
But Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue Team has reassured people that it is fully prepared and ready to respond to any emergency. Team leader Steve Owers said: “As with everyone else, the last few weeks have been very strange for Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue Team. We stopped all of our training about five weeks ago to limit the contact we had with each other. At around the same time we had our latest callout to Barnard Castle to a gentlemen who had collapsed. Despite the best efforts of members of the public, a North East Ambulance Service crew and ourselves we were unable to save him.
“Since then it has been a continuous process of planning on how we are going to maintain our core service of search and rescue in the upland and semi-urban areas.”
Mr Owers said that while the message to stay at home will limit the callouts to the upland areas, the service also searches in the semi-urban areas for missing children, the elderly with dementia and people who are depressed and at high risk.
He said: “Some of this work is likely to increase.
“Maintaining sufficient team members available for callouts will become increasingly challenging as 25 per cent of our members work for the NHS or are emergency service workers.
“However, we are putting measures in place to limit the number of team members who attend callouts in order to minimise risk, and all teams now have new guidelines on approaching and treating patients and casualties.”
Mr Owers said that like all charities, donations will be significantly reduced over the next few months.
“We have cancelled our major fundraising event in June as well as two of our street collections including the one in Barnard Castle.
“With shops, pubs and cafes also being closed we will receive very little from our collection boxes,” she said.
“Having said all that we have plans in place to deal with most eventualities and we are still available to respond to callouts in any area of the county.”
The team said it was also grateful to University Technical College South Durham for supplying full face visors.
