COASTGUARD RESCUE TEAMS CONTINUE TO OFFER SNOW ASSISTANCE

Coastguard Rescue Teams are assisting the NHS and local authorities throughout the UK in the current winter weather conditions of snow and ice. Teams who have been active in the last 24 hours include;
 
South East
·        Holbrook
·        Eastbourne
·        Hastings
·        Rye Bay
·        Langdon Battery
·        Deal
·        Bexhill
·        Folkestone
·        Bembridge
 
Wales
·        Abersoch
·        Moelfre
·        LLandwrog
·        Barmouth
 
Scotland
·        Stornoway
·        Dunvegan
·        Benbecula
·        Ness
·        Dunoon
·        Montrose
·        Carnoustie

These teams of volunteers have been involved in transporting critical care staff to hospitals, transferring patients to and from hospitals with paramedic staff, taking district nurses to critically ill patients and helping a meals on wheels service reach people’s homes. They have also been called to help stranded motorists.  

In Wales, Abersoch, Moelfre, LLandwrog and Barmouth Coastguard Rescue Teams have so far transported 15 members of key medical staff into work at the Ycbyty Gwynedd Hospital in Bangor.

On the Isle of Wight Bembridge Coastguard Rescue Teams have been transporting a District Nurse on her rounds to tend to critically ill patients.

Late last night the Holbrook rescue team went to the assistance of a motorist and his passenger whose vehicle had become stranded in Lower Raydon, Suffolk.

In Scotland the Montrose Coastguard Rescue Team have been helping the council’s meals on wheels service reach its customers and Dunoon Coastguard Rescue Team have twice worked with paramedics to safely transfer patients from Tighnabruaich to Dunoon.

Rod Johnson, the Chief Coastguard said
"In extreme winter weather our partner emergency services, and local authorities, may need to call on our help to resolve critical or life threatening incidents. To make sure that we respond to these calls and maintain our own state of readiness for maritime emergencies, these requests are routed through the local resilience forum.

The system of call outs have been working well this week and ensuring that Her Majesty’s Coastguard give help where it's needed; when it's needed. "

-Notes to Editors-
• The MCA is a partner in the Sea Vision UK campaign to raise awareness and understanding of the sea and maritime activities. Sea Vision promotes the importance and economic value of the sector and works to highlight the exciting range of activities and career opportunities available to young people within the UK growing maritime sector. http://www.seavisionuk.org/
•  Stay safe - before heading out on the water get trained, check weather and tides, wear a lifejacket, avoid alcohol and keep in touch
• Follow us on Twitter. Find us at MCA_media

Popular posts from this blog

Label your kit at the coast

Image
Kayaks. Canoes. Paddleboards. What do they all have in common? They’re quite often found on the coastline or drifting out to sea. And if we don’t know who they belong to, we can spend time searching for an owner when they’re home safe and sound. So please help us to help you. Label your kit so that if you do get separated from it, and it turns up somewhere, we can get hold of you. In recent weeks, our Coastguard Rescue Teams have found numerous items such as kayaks and canoes drifting out at sea or abandoned near the shoreline. Unfortunately, some of the items we have found have not had their owners’ contact details written on them nor been reported as missing to the Coastguard. As a result, it makes it difficult for us to find out who it belongs to and also means we can never be completely sure if someone is safe or in the worst case, in trouble at sea. This can place a huge strain on our resources especially during the busy summer period when we have to call upon our Coastgua
Read more

A short history of HM Coastguard

Image
Today HM Coastguard is a world leader in maritime search and rescue. Looking back almost 200 years, the goods, which now travel by road, were carried by hundreds of small ships. Year in year out dozens of ships and hundreds of lives were lost within sight of the coast. Public shock and dismay at the tragedies drove forward the creation of national life saving organisations. Though it’s beginnings lie in those decades HM Coastguard originated not to meet the dangers of the seas but to combat a threat to the country’s economy and security – smuggling. As soon as medieval taxes were charged on imports and exports, people began smuggling. By 1743 th e estimate was that half the tea drunk in Britain was illegally imported and shows that smuggling was highly profitable. Smugglers have often been romanticised but the reality was brutal. Local people lived in fear, with violent reprisals on informers and the murder of revenue officers, while corruption enabled smugglers to evade harsh p
Read more

BOSCASTLE FLOODS: TEN YEARS ON

Image
Boscastle Flooding 16 th August 2004 The storms of Monday 16 August 2004 saw three weeks worth of rain fall in one day. The resulting water began to be funnelled down the valleys surrounding Boscastle and soon the steep roads became rivers. By the time that the water reached the picturesque village, it had picked up enough momentum to become a raging torrent, sweeping into buildings, washing cars away and felling huge trees. Graham King runs the Witches Museum in Boscastle and was also the station officer for the Boscastle Coastguard Rescue Team at the time of the floods: “ My museum is situated next to the harbour near the river ,” says Graham “ and I can see the coastguard equipment store from there. Initially I was concerned that the vehicle and equipment were going to become stranded but I soon began to realise how quickly the situation was deteriorating and called Falmouth Coastguard ” From that point on the villagers and tourists stranded in flood waters were he
Read more