DSRT Ashburton 2024 Summary

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During 2024 the rescue team responded to 42 callouts, this is an increase of 40% on 2023, making 2024 our second busiest year on record. During the year we have worked with all three statutory emergency services, HM Coastguard, Devon Air Ambulance Trust and our sister teams across Devon & Cornwall.

Our first callout of 2024 was on the evening of 1st January when we responded to a group of teenagers whose campsite had become flooded near the Avon Dam on southern Dartmoor. Due to the heavy rain they were unable to return safely and called for help. The group were located by the team and escorted back through flood waters to one of our 4x4 vehicles and driven back to several anxious parents waiting in the Shipley Bridge car park.

In 2024 almost two thirds of our callouts were within Dartmoor National Park. This is an increase on recent years probably due to more people realising the benefits of exploring the beautiful landscape, and venturing out on to the moor when the weather has been good.

Around a third of our callouts were supporting Devon & Cornwall Police in searching for vulnerable individuals. Sadly, on some of these callouts the individuals were found deceased. Our thoughts are with their friends and families. 

We have also had some unusual callouts. During February our team, along with its sister teams assisted Devon and Cornwall Police with the 2 day evacuation of residents from the Keyham area of Plymouth due to an unexploded World War 2 bomb. 

This year the team also benefited greatly from having Search dogs Binny and Amber and their amazing handlers Chris and Paula.

August was our busiest month with 8 callouts. These included; 

  • a climber who had fallen from Chudleigh Rocks and had to be transferred to the air ambulance, 
  • 3 searches for vulnerable individuals, 
  • supporting the ambulance service with one person who had fallen from a tree in Park,
  • another (on the same day) who had dislocated a shoulder in Haytor Quarry, 
  • evacuated a person with a knee injury from Hound Tor,
  • rescued a group of 18-year-olds who had become lost when the weather changed suddenly from sunny, warm and dry to cold, wet and cloudy. 

May 2024 saw the 62nd Ten Tors event and once again our volunteers and those from the other three Dartmoor Search and Rescue teams, Devon 4x4 and other organisations were heavily involved supporting the Army with their event. This year one of the biggest challenges for the event were the unusually high temperatures which resulted in the rescue team being involved in a dozen incidents involving participants on the Saturday. On Sunday afternoon our team were also first on scene to support a member of the public providing first aid to a cyclist found with serious head injuries on the roadside near our control vehicle. 

We continue to rely on our incredible volunteers to drop everything, at any time of the day or night, in all weathers to search for lost, injured or vulnerable individuals. This would not be possible were it not for the on-going support they receive from incredibly understanding family, friends,  and employers.