THE DUBLIN and Wicklow Mountain Rescue team and the Glen of Imaal Red Cross Mountain Rescue Team today became the first rescue teams to carry out one hundred operations in Ireland in one calendar year.
The 100th callout was for a missing walker who became disorientated in deteriorating weather conditions and poor light last night. The man was located using special technology on steep ground. He was treated at the scene for mild hypothermia and taken to safety.
This number represents a near doubling of the amount of call outs seen in 2012, over 30 calls more than the previous busiest year and over four thousand voluntary man-hours.
The teams have seen incidents ranging from vehicles and their passengers caught in snow and ice conditions to lost walkers in poor weather conditions and injured mountain bikers as well as assisting other rescue teams. Some 192 people have been assisted and there have been six fatalities.
Today Mountain Rescue said in a statement that teams were exposed to varied medical scenarios including lower leg injuries, cardiac arrests, serious spinal injuries and self harm.
Commenting on the landmark number of callouts, Alan Cronin, Chairman of Dublin and Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team, said:
Faced with decreasing income and rising operating costs, we have had to ask more from our members as the number of call outs reached record numbers. Aside from the financial strain on the team, members are also being asked to invest more of their own time and money into providing what has become a front line professional emergency service.
Figures from the teams show that January and February were the busiest months for callouts, with Sunday being the busiest day of the week.
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