At 12.52hr on Tuesday 10th July 2018, UK Coastguard requested the launch of Seahouses Inshore Lifeboat, to assist two persons trapped on Holy Island Causeway. They had attempted to cross the Causeway outside of the safe crossing times. One of the casualties was reported as being claustrophobic and panicking. UK Coastguard requested the persons be brought ashore.
Photos: (Credit Exmouth RNLI)
PR040718 Exmouth lifeboat station volunteer Tour Guides (left to right: Peter Dobbs, Robin Humphreys and Bill Lodge)
Exmouth lifeboat station is recruiting additional visitor guides to join a small team of dedicated volunteers providing free tours for the public. The state-of-the-art boathouse on Queens Drive houses a Shannon class and a D class lifeboat.
Photos: (credit: Exmouth RNLI)
PR020718-1 RNLI Crew and lifeguards carry cliff faller with Exmouth Coastguard team
PR020718-2 RNLI Crew, Lifeguards and Exmouth Coastguard team assess spinal injury casualty on the beach
PR020718-3 RNLI Crew, Shore Crew and lifeguards with Sidmouth lifeboat Coxswain and Exmouth Coastguards rush to recover the mass casualties to the lifeboat station
PR020718-4 Exmouth RNLI Crew volunteers, lifeguards and coastguard team carry casualty to the lifeboat station from the mass rescue scenario
On 1 July, local emergency services were invited to Exmouth lifeboat station to take part in various scenarios, played by actors from Peninsula Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine team.
Photos:
PR300618 Inshore lifeboat George Bearman II recovery under a full moon
R300618 Shore Crew volunteers wait to hear further news at the lifeboat station
Inshore lifeboat George Bearman II launched at 9.48pm to reports that a 16-year-old girl had fallen off a cliff at Orcombe Point.
Crew volunteers were on scene within eight minutes and found the casualty on a ledge, assessed her and administered initial first aid. Meanwhile, the D class lifeboat returned to station to pick up the South West Ambulance HART team and another Crew volunteer (an emergency doctor), to take them to the scene which was only accessible by water.
Back at scene, further emergency pain relief was administered and the casualty was immobilised in order to move her off the ledge. Crew volunteers carried her by stretcher down to the beach and helped winch her up to a Coastguard helicopter from St Athans. She was then transferred to Devon Air Ambulance which had landed at the town’s football pitch and they in turn, transferred her to Derriford hospital. George Bearman II recovered the HART team and Crew volunteers back to Exmouth lifeboat station and was ready for service again at 11.50pm.
Exmouth Coastguard team and Devon and Cornwall police officers were in attendance at Orcombe Point, controlling crowds which had formed and preparing a helicopter landing area on the beach, if needed.
Crew volunteer, Roger Jackson was one of the Crew volunteers first on the scene:
‘We found the girl in extreme agony, in a crumpled mess. She had been joined by a friend who had run down the steps and entered the water in order to reach her. Together they had somehow moved up to a ledge to stay higher than the tide, until help arrived. We would like to thank him for assisting her to a place of safety and saving her from a worse situation with an incoming tide.
‘When speaking to the casualty’s friends, we understood that they had been sitting on the edge of the cliff looking at the moon over the sea. The cliff edge had crumbled under her and taken her down a vertical drop, feet first. On the way down, she had hit an overhang and then slid down straight to the bottom.
‘With the recent long warm weather, our Jurassic cliffs are very dry and prone to splitting and creating rock falls. It is not only dangerous for walkers at the top, it is also dangerous for people sitting on beaches beneath. We would encourage people not to take the risk of going near the edge – keep to the marked footpaths and enjoy our beautiful coastline from a safe distance.
‘It was a tremendous effort by all emergency services involved. Joined-up lifesaving which we can only learn by training regularly together and understanding each other’s assets.’
Notes to Editors (credit: Exmouth RNLI)
9.50pm Shannon class lifeboat was standing by with full Crew, as a report came in of another incident concerning three people in a dinghy in difficulty. They recovered ashore themselves, so we didn’t launch.
Photos:
A : FLIR Binoculars 1 = Headteacher of St. Peters Preparatory School, Mrs Charlotte Johnson is given a demonstration of the equipment.
B: FLIR Binoculars 2 : Headteacher of St. Peters Preparatory School, Mrs Charlotte Johnson presents the equipment to Exmouth RNLI Coxswain, Steve Hockings-Thompson
On Tuesday 19 June 2018, Exmouth RNLI were very pleased to receive their new Thermal Imaging Binoculars for use on their Shannon Class All Weather Lifeboat, R and J Welburn. These sophisticated binoculars target heat emissions, providing excellent vision in daylight, low light and complete darkness, and enabling volunteer lifeboat crew to detect and identify vessels and individuals at sea in low or no light situations.
(credit: Exmouth RNLI)
Photos: PR260628 Inshore lifeboat George Bearman II recovers after service
On 25 June at 5.30pm, Exmouth’s inshore lifeboat George Bearman II launched following a 999 call from four teenagers cut off by the tide between Orcombe Point and Sandy Bay.
Crew volunteers were on scene within four minutes, recovered the three boys and one girl and landed them on the beach west of Orcombe Point to safety. George Bearman II returned to station and was ready for service again at 5.50pm.
Helm, Guy Munnings said:
‘The teenagers did exactly the right thing and immediately called 999 for the Coastguard, instead of attempting a route up the cliffs which could have resulted in injury and a more difficult rescue for us and perhaps local coastguard teams would have needed to be tasked.
‘We advised the casualties to check tide tables before they set off for future walks along the shore and showed them how to access information on their mobile phones. Our RNLI lifeguards on duty can advise you on tides between 10am and 6pm every day until September and you can pick up a tide table in our RNLI shop during opening hours. There are signs under the cliffs to inform people of the dangers of being cut of by the tides. We remind people to dial 999 if they find themselves in difficulty.’
(credit: Exmouth RNLI)
Photos: PR170618 Shannon class lifeboat R and J Welburn recovered at daybreak
On Friday 15 June at 10.45pm (we returned Saturday 16 June), Shannon class lifeboat R and J Welburn was tasked by the UK Coastguard after a sighting of a red flare, four to five miles north east from a vessel in Torbay.
Photo shows the HART Team boarding the Lifeboat at Seahouses
At 14:20hr on Tuesday 12th June 2018, UK Coastguard requested the assistance of Seahouses Lifeboat Crew, to assist the local coastguard team with a female who had suffered a pelvic injury, following a fall on a local passenger vessel. She was conscious but in great pain, and required pain relief which the Lifeboat Crew can administer. One of the crew, who is a local doctor, was also on the station for crew training, and was able to respond immediately. The passenger vessel was already alongside at Seahouses Harbour.
(credit: Exmouth RNLI)
Photos: PR120618 Inshore lifeboat George Bearman II being recovered with the recovery of Shannon class lifeboat R and J Welburn in the background.
Inshore lifeboat George Bearman II and Shannon class lifeboat R and J Welburn launched on the evening of 11 June following a 999 call to the Coastguard.
As we continue to transition between seasons on the mountains, the number and types of calls North Shore Rescue responds to change as well. Lengthening daylight hours, warm temperatures in the city, and the appearance of snowmelt on the visible parts of the North Shore Mountains tend to call people to the outdoors in droves. Frankly, this is an understandable phenomenon after a long rainy Vancouver winter. We have some pretty amazing places for summer hikers to visit, and some pretty amazing vistas to be had. That said, it is not summer on the mountains and to assume such can be a fatal mistake!
…it is not summer on the mountains…