Callout 05/2019 - Harford Moorgate, Dartmoor National Park, 01:27 24th February 2019

Dartmoor Search and Rescue Ashburton callout volunteers had an early start this morning with a callout at 01:27 to locate and evacuate a camper with a head injury from Piles Copse in the South-west of Dartmoor National Park..

A small group of campers spending the evening at Piles Copse had some unplanned excitement when one of the group sustained a head injury. in response to the group calling the ambulance service to report the incident, a team of paramedics, Police officers  and Dartmoor Rescue Ashburton volunteers were dispatched to the RV at Harford Moor Gate on the moor to the north of Ivybridge.

A team deployed via Landrover towards Sharp Tor to walk into the reported location in Piles Copse, whilst a second Landrover deployed to a high point to the north of Harford Moorgate to act as a radio relay for communications to the casualty site.

Once deployed the radio relay noted a torch light that appeared to be signalling towards their position from just south of the reported casualty position. It redirected the foot team to the location who confirmed it was the casualty we were looking for.

Medical examination by team Doctor

One of our team Doctors and a SW Ambulance Trust paramedic completed an initial assessment of the casualty's injury and decided he didn't require a stretcher and was fit enough to be walked off the moor.  A team Landrover and Ambulance service vehicle met the party at New Take and transferred the casualty to the waiting land ambulance at Harford Moor Gate, where he was taken to hospital for further treatment.

Team Search Manager Craig Scollick said: 'We are very grateful to our volunteers who attended this incident in the early hours of this morning. Working with our ambulance service and Police colleagues, we were able to bring this incident to a close reasonably quickly and stood down our members at 04:30. Fortunately, the campers had torches that made it much easier for us to locate them. We recommend always carrying a torch when walking/camping on Dartmoor as they can really make a difference in an emergency situation as this incident showed. We wish the camper a speedy recovery from his injury'

The team were stood down at 04:30 and returned home to their beds. One member then had to be up and ready for work at 07:00.

Biggest search in recent years centres around Ivybridge

Callout 01 / 2018 - 08:00  6th January 2018

We've been part of one of the biggest searches conducted in recent years all day today looking for a missing male from Ivybridge.

Multiple agencies were involved including:

- Dartmoor Search and Rescue Ashburton,
- Devon & Cornwall Police, 
- Search and Rescue Dog Association (SARDA) dogs, 
- Devon and Cornwall Police dogs
- Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service dogs
- Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team - Plymouth, 
- Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, 
- National Police Air Service helicopter from Exeter, 
- Devon and Cornwall 4x4 
- and more than 100 members of the public.