VOLUNTEERS from Ashburton’s Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team had a busy start to the Bank Holiday weekend with two call-outs on the same day.

On Saturday (August 24) the team  were tasked to assist the South Western Ambulance Service with an individual who had dislocated a shoulder whilst wild swimming in the pool at Haytor Quarry. 

A spokesperson for the team said: ‘Our team members stretchered the individual from the pool to our Land Rover where they were then transported to a waiting ambulance at the road head. The team involved in this incident stood down at 3.30pm.’

While the team were deploying to the quarry casualty, two members assisted the ambulance service with a young male who had fallen from a tree at Parke, near Bovey Tracy. 

Although assessed as not being seriously hurt, he was recovered to a waiting ambulance on a stretcher by a combined SWASFT/Dartmoor Search and Rescue Ashburton team, then taken to hospital as a precaution.

Seventeen rescue volunteers were involved in both incidents.

The Search and Rescue Team are a charity with more than 50 volunteers on call 24/7 dedicated to assisting the emergency services with the search and rescue of the lost, missing, injured and vulnerable including those with dementia, mental health illnesses and children.

Without volunteer search and rescue teams the emergency services would not have the resources to devote to the search and rescue of missing or injured loved ones. Full details about the team can be found on their website https://dsrtashburton.org.uk.