Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team and its call-outs

Planning and dealing with call-outs and incidents

The Holme Valley Team

The Holme Valley Team is called out via the West Yorkshire Police. Sometimes this is following a 999 call if there is an emergency, more often than not, however, the Team is contacted and requested to assist in the Police's ongoing enquiries. The Team Leader is responsible for the planning, organisation and running of a search - supported by assistant leaders. This involves working with the Police officer in charge and sometimes other Teams and members of the public. To support this the Team has a Police Liaison Officer as all civilian Search and Rescue operations within the UK is the responsibility of the Police. It is worth mentioning, that year on year the Holme Valley Team is getting more busy. Read on to see how a search is planned and carried out...

The steps below represent what is not seen by the public - from the Police first contacting the team, through to the end of a call out with a casualty evacuation.

The call-outs and incidents process

Initial Leader's briefing

1) The Holme Valley Team is run by a Team Leader and Deputy Leader, backed up by six assistant leaders. One of these will get a 'prior call' from the Police. They will then start to plan the best action to take. This will involve gathering information and planning how best to use the Team's resources.

The Search gets under-way

2) By this time a pager message will have been sent to all the 'call out' members. After they have been briefed they will then be out searching. On the hill, search parties of usually 4 or 5 people are lead by a trained party leader and will complete the tasking set by the Leader.

Casualty care is administered and the carry-off is prepared

3) Once the casualty is found, first aid is administered, if required, and equipment is brought in to enable a casualty evacuation.
Meanwhile, leaders are planning any extra resources that may be required to help evacuate the casualty and making necessary arrangements.

4) The Holme Valley Team is able to call upon specialist organisations to assist with any search and rescue situation if they are required. These include Yorkshire's Air Ambulance, Mountain Rescue's Search and Rescue Dog Association (SARDA) handlers or the RAF's search and rescue helicopter.

The HVMRT skill-base

The diagram below represents the skills and experience that can be called upon through the Holme Valley Team. All this is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and free of charge!
Skills and Knowledge offered by the Holme Valley Team

Skills and Knowledge offered by the Holme Valley Team