Major Cliff Fall near Durdle Door

There was a massive cliff fall overnight near Durdle Door, taking away part of the SW Coast Path.

The BBC Website has more details.

After what seemed like months of endless rain, the sudden hot spell has left the cliffs in a very vulnerable state - including those at Swanage.

We are about to undertake an exercise to number each of the breakwaters so that in the event of a major incident in Swanage, the Emergncy Services will be able to identify the precise location more easily.

Sad News - Austen has retired (for a bit we hope)

After 6 months, Austen the team's Deputy Station Officer has decided to continue working overseas for a bit so has retired from the team.

Austen has been in the team for 14 years and attended many incidents in and around Swanage.

We hope in the future he will rejoin the team and continue finding those incidents he was famous for.

I would like to thank Austen for his help, advice and support for many years.

Training Warm Up - Pair of Bangers

We're training tomorrow at 09:00 but nothing like a 'warm up' down at the High Street Cafe beforehand.

Roger and his 06:15 Breakfast Cappuccino
- Now there's class for you.

Full breakfast works probably,.... pair of bangers, bacon, 2x eggs (double egger), mushrooms, beans, fried slice plus the obligatory hash brown chaser. (Top Tip: Swap the tomatoes for an extra hash brown ;-) )

Always fun keeping that down when you're dangling over a cliff.

If anyone is sick on me, boy, they are in for trouble.

Search - Priests Way

This morning at 2.30 Portland Coastguard tasked the IRT to assist Dorset Police in a search.

Police were concerned for the welfare of the male who had lasted been seen in the town and may had been heading for the Priests Way.

The IRT searched the majority of the track but were unable to locate the male. Police stood down the search just after 3.30 but later this morning the male was located safe and well at an address in town.

Cliff Rescue - ISIS

Swanage Coastguard IRT Team were this afternoon tasked to assist our local Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 106 'Rescue One-O-Six' in the rescue of a climber who had fallen 75ft 30ft from a remote climbing spot the 'Isis' area, Cattle Troughs, close to the western mile marker, Durlston.

The climber was airlifted to hospital.

**25/04/13 Casualty recovering well. (see comments) - We'll pass his thanks onto the R106 Helicopter Team.

R106 - Ready to winch
(Credit: Dragatis)

R106 - Casualty Extraction
(Credit: Dragatis)

Location: Isis Area, Cattle Troughs, Swanage.

Don't mention the Q word

There is a saying in the emergency services that you don't say the word "quiet" as this tends to suddenly return and bite you.

In 2011 we had 19 callous in April, yet so far this month we have had nothing! There is a clear link to the weather and current financial climate as you only have to look out from the sea front and see very little going on out on the water.

Despite the lack of incidents there is plenty going on in the back ground. The monitoring of the Landslip saw 3 off duty Coastguards at the weekend speak to individuals about climbing up onto the slip itself. We didn't want to spoil their fun however despite the warning signs if they get stuck or injured it will spoil our fun and see volunteers giving up their time to rescue them.

The team is working with Dorset County Council, Purbeck District Council, Swanage Town Council and the Environment Agency on ways to improve the safety of the beach and hopefully some improvements could be made if funding is obtained.

Our role in all this is to continue to monitor the movement, check signage and number the groynes so watch out for a Coastguard with a tin of paint!

A Wartime Admiralty Chart of Swanage - 15 April 1943

A Wartime Admiralty Chart of Swanage - 15 April 1943

Wet Patrol

It might be raining, but the patrol headed out to liaise with partner agencies.

Having visited Studland and the National Trust we then headed up to Durlston Castle to liaise with the Rangers.

Patrols are important to continue checking the area for access and keep the vehicle in good working order.

Walking through history

Anyone who was watching Channel 4 last night may have seen Tony Robinson's " Walking Through History" programme which featured Dorset.

The programme was based around front line Dorset during the Second World War and featured right at the end the visit of Wes Mullen who as an American GI was based in Swanage in 1944 and returned to Swanage last year.

We were lucky enough to meet Wes a truly remarkable man.




The walk that Tony Robinson did is available on the Channel 4 website.

Joint Training

With landslips happening in other parts of the country this week, Swanage Coastguard Rescue Officers were invited down to Swanage Fire Station to work through the Fire Services protocol on landslips.

It's quite surprising how two emergencies services work differently so better to get things right in the training room so if an incident occurs both services will come together for the best of a casualty.

Towards the end of the session the team members disappeared to look at the fire appliances and were rather impressed with the data terminals in the trucks compared to our pen and paper.

Tonight's training session will feed into a multi agency meeting tomorrow morning on the landslip issues in and around Swanage.

Thanks to Phil and Officers at Swanage Fire Station.