The national co-ordinating body for volunteer search and rescue teams in England and Wales
Mountain Rescue in the UK is delivered free of charge both to the casualty and the emergency service which requests it. On call 24/7, teams are staffed entirely by volunteers who don’t receive or ask any remuneration for their services.
All teams are registered charities and rely entirely on donations from the public for their income. This works reasonably well in areas of high tourist traffic but not so well in other areas where the need for a mountain rescue team is not as obvious. Mountain rescue teams’ remit has broadened over the past couple of decades to include assisting the police in searches for vulnerable missing persons (elderly confused, children missing from home, self harmers etc), searching for evidence after a crime, rescues on inland water, flood rescue, assisting the ambulance service where access to a patient is difficult. It is true to say that, with some exceptions, the majority of calls for assistance to mountain rescue teams around the country do not relate to mountainous environments or those usually associated with mountaineering and climbing, making the teams a very flexible and valuable asset to their local communities.
Some of the most notable incidents mountain rescue teams have attended in recent years are the floods in Gloucestershire, Carlisle, Boscastle and South Yorkshire; the Greyrigg traincrash; and the MoD helicopter crash near Catterick. In all cases if mountain rescue teams weren’t the first at the scene they arrived very soon afterwards and before much of the statutory infrastructure attended.
Mountain rescue teams may be made up of volunteers but when they are needed the teams provide a first class, professional service equivalent to anything found elsewhere in the world.
