Off the Beaten Track

Well, not strictly, but as with yesterday  the second of this weekend's patrols spent a lot of time off road and looking at different ways to access various locations.

Today, after a small tasking at Old Harry (where the DSO was put to good use taking photographs for a walking party), the team headed back to the Rempstone Forest area to check some routes there. After that it was up onto Nine Barrow Down and a look at the best routes to get up there depending on exactly where the incident is and where the vehicle is coming from when tasked.

 

Nine Barrow isn't a regular spot for call outs, but they do happen so it pays to be prepared. In recent years we have had at least two mountain bike incidents up there resulting in Coastguard and helicopter intervention.  It's a location that a regular ambulance just wouldn't reach.

This is at the Corfe End of Nine Barrow Down 

Those Hard-to-Reach Places

Not all of our incidents are conveniently located next to roads or car parks where it's easy to get equipment and personnel to, and frequently we find ourselves carrying kit by hand.   Of course, we get as near to incidents as we can with our 4x4 but this is heavily dependant on ground and weather conditions.

On patrol last Saturday the team checked the access routes out towards an area known as Cattle Troughs (we check the state of the tracks, check that gates still open, we oil padlocks etc) and it gave an opportunity for some off road driving practice too.

Part of the skill of off road driving is knowing the limitations of the vehicle with regard to the terrain and knowing when to get out and complete the journey on foot.

 

Time to walk - in this case on the top of Ballard

 

Off Duty?

Like other emergency services volunteers, we're never really 'off duty'.  Of the 12 on the team, there are always two of us near the Coastguard Station at any time, and this pair is the 'Initial Response Team' (IRT) who will be tasked to attend to any incidents.
The remaining team members still wear their pagers in case a bigger presence is required eg for rope rescues or coastal searches, so although it frees them up to do other things that life has in store, they are still technically available.

Our patch includes the Rempstone Forest / Wytch Farm area leading down to Poole Harbour and its important that the team keeps familiar with the various tracks and routes through the forest - if a distress flare is sighted in Poole harbour we may be tasked to Goathorn Pier or Ower Quay to see if we can identify someone in distress.

So last night, whilst off duty, one of the team took advantage of a beautiful late summers evening to cycle some of the Rempstone lanes and paths to check access points, gates etc, and to generally admire the views.  Off duty or on duty?  Its all useful local knowledge training.

      

Training

Training tonight....................

We start the year as we mean to carry on, tonight its the 1st session for 1st aid to be followed up with another 2 sessions which will include the assessment with the Sector Manager.

Other training this year will be, more rope work, water rescue, driving, and a big project on local knowledge. We will tell you more about this project as it happens.

Lads....time to put the colouring books away!