Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team Tavistock

Dartmoor is a superb recreational area for a host of sports, but what happens when something goes wrong? Emily Woodhouse joined the Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team for Tavistock as a trainee two years ago, and after passing her final assessment in January, has become a valuable team member - on a recent call out she was the one who spotted a missing person hidden behind rocks in the early hours of the morning. So what does it take to work with DSRT…

It’s dark. It’s raining. The mist has come in so close that I can barely tell the bog from the tussock in my torch light. I’m here out of choice.

Dartmoor Search and Rescue operations began in Tavistock almost 50 years ago catalysed by the death of two young army cadets on Dartmoor. DSRT was designed to be a specialised response team, capable of dealing with Dartmoor’s unpredictable weather patterns and unforgiving terrain, using exceptional local knowledge and navigation skills. There are now four independent Dartmoor Search and Rescue teams based in Tavistock, Plymouth, Okehampton and Ashburton, covering the four compass points of the moor. These four charities make up Dartmoor Rescue Group – an organisational body that keeps a consistency of structure and purpose between the four teams. This in turn is part of the Peninsular Mountain and Cave Rescue Association (PenMaCRA) and above that, Mountain Rescue England and Wales.

Do we have any mountains on Dartmoor? - a handful - but the general reputation for flatness often leads to a misjudgement of difficulty and conditions. It may ‘just’ be Dartmoor, but the weather can turn from sunny to foul without any notice at all. Walkers can leave home in the sunshine only to experience rain, fog, hail and sunshine again – possibly before they even reach the car park. Very often it’s the people who were caught out by a sudden drop in the cloud level, and then darkness, who find themselves stranded - or the people who didn’t realise the unassuming stretch of ground in front of them could be knee-deep bog.

DSRT Tavistock has almost 40 team members on its call-out list. We are on call all day, every day, ready to respond whenever the message comes – be it at 1:00am on a work night, sitting down to dinner or during children’s birthday parties. People really do drop everything to respond. You never know when a call out is coming and you never know how long it will take. Call outs can last from minutes to days, depending on the incident. The air ambulance might have reached the casualty as we are deployed, or we might be out for 8 hours and eventually replaced by another team on a prolonged search.

Although we are volunteers, we work alongside the other emergency service personnel and train to a professional standard. Our training covers first aid, navigation, technical ropework and search techniques. Most of our deployments fall into one of these areas and all team members are required to be competent in these basic skills. On top of this, there are specialist courses in water rescue, 4x4 driving and search management – to name a few. Team members can also train a search dog as part of SARDA (Search and Rescue Dogs Association).

Call outs on Dartmoor include many of the situations you’d expect; people can be lost and caught out in the dark, injured and in need of swift transport to hospital or mentally ill. However, we also take part in rural off-moor searching and are occasionally called out of area to assist other Mountain Rescue teams in Cornwall, North Devon or once even as far as York in the 2015 flooding.

When I started out as a trainee, I had no idea how much of my life Dartmoor Rescue would take up. It sounds ridiculous to say, but there is so much more to it than being on call all day every day. We train at least once every week, plus specialist courses, optional training, meetings… and fundraising and community events on top of that! It can easily become a second, unpaid, full time job. There are weeks when I can end up in a red jacket, or on team related business, every single day. We call it ‘one of those weeks’, but if we didn’t enjoy it, we’d never put in that much time and effort. There is, as far as I have found, nothing more satisfying or rewarding than helping people in need and, even just occasionally, saving lives in the process.

Emily Woodhouse

For more information about our work visit www.dsrt-tavistock.org.uk

If you would like to donate to the team, text ‘DART03’ and the amount to 70070.

Advice for staying safe on Dartmoor

Take a map and compass and ensure you know how to use them.We have had numerous call outs to rescue walkers relying on a phone GPS or compass app that has failed.

Be properly equipped for the terrain and changeable weather.Walkers sometimes stumble out of a bog in flip flops or get completely drenched wearing a summer dress and wellies.

Take a phone in case of emergency You will be able to call for help and we might be able to locate you more quickly.

Tell someone else where you’re going and when you expect to be back.If something happens, they’ll be able to raise the alarm sooner and give us a general idea of your location.

(photos taken by Josephine Collingwood, DSRT Tavistock)