Avon & Somerset Search & Rescue

06 ASC Log No. 833. The Chief Rescue Officer (CRO) was called by SWAST clinical hub in Exeter advising of a male in a cave in Priddy, Mendip, who required rescuing. The CRO contacted the police control room and ensured the cave rescue team were called out via SAR CALL system. The CRO met the police inspector and Sgt on site at Priddy Green and escorted them to the cave entrance at Swildon’s Swallet. Some of the underground party members had returned to the surface and could report on the casualty condition. SWAST stood down the HART response. Members of cave rescue arrived on site and entered the cave. The CRO stood down and handed the incident over to the Mendip Cave Rescue controller.

05 Log 705 The team was called out at 16.30 by Avon & Somerset Police in response to a male, with minor injuries, who was stuck, high-up on cliffs in Cheddar Gorge. The man was located and moved to a place of safety by ASSAR technical rescue experts with assistance from local fire crews from Cheddar Stn supported by additional resources from Bridgewater Stn. The incident was stood down at 20.16 further to the casualty receiving welfare support, medically assessed and then transported to Weston-Super-Mare Railway Stn so as to be able to make his journey home.

04 Log 8739 ASSARs Chief Rescue Officer was contacted at 15:34 by Avon & Somerset Police to search for a missing person in the Southmead-Brentry-Henbury area of Bristol. The team was put on standby and then called out at 16.05. The weather was cold and with snow forecast there was raising concerns for the man’s welfare. The team was stood down at 17.05 further to the missing person being located safe and well by police officers just outside our search area.

03 Log 583 At approx 16:15 A&SSARs Chief Rescue Officer was contacted for consultation and advice re a likely callout of the team to search for two missing girls, for whom concerns for their safety and welfare were raising in the south Bristol area. Whilst the matter was in discussion with the duty area Inspector and the CRO the girls turned up unharmed, the matter was closed.

02 Log No.1091 At 23:04 the local Inspector in Bath contacted the Chief Rescue Officer (CRO) about a seriously ill, despondent male, who was reported missing in the Timsbury area. The CRO tasked an immediate response in 4×4 vehicles, the weather conditions still being very cold and snow on the ground, and began to arrange a full team callout, and liaise with the FIM and PolSA as this incident was particularly time critical. A near neighbour reported seeing the missing person, and the police quickly located him, the ambulance service assessed and treated him. The team was stood down at 23:28 and the response driver was recalled.

01 Log No. 0078 At about noon, after very heavy overnight snow falls, the Force Incident Manager contacted the Chief Rescue Officer requesting 4×4 drivers to support the community in the North Bristol, Bath, Keynsham, Radstock/Paulton areas. Five of the team’s vehicles were crewed and dispatched to the police stations in these areas. The drivers of these vehicles performed many tasks and attended many incidents, assisting the community during the severe weather. These incidents included; assisting police with various RTCs, taking police officers to their beat patrols, and moving a severely ill patient to Frenchay Hospital. The ambulance services took the opportunity of using their medical co-responders to attend to certain medical incidents that were in very remote and isolated places, including one female who had severe cardiac complications.

The response drivers stood down at various times during the afternoon, the final stand down coming at 21:30 hrs.

31 ASC Log no. 256.  The Force Incident Manager called the team CRO using the SARCALL system at 12:22 hrs. He was seeking assistance with locating a vulnerable seven year old male, who had been reported missing from his residential care home in Chard, Somerset. The CRO managed to offer some advice regarding containment of the immediate area, and search techniques. The team was preparing for a callout when the police reported the child had been found, safe and well by his carers, at a local shopping centre. The team was stood down at 12:40 hrs.

30 ASC Log 1321. The police contacted the CRO at 23:13 hrs with an alert from Foxtrot division (Wells), about a possible missing person. The duty Sergeant contacted the CRO to seek advice about locating a vulnerable 14 year old female who was missing from home, believed to be in flood water in Gurney Slade. Advice was passed on search procedure and containment of the area near her home. The child was located by the police before the rest of the team could be called out.

29 ASC Log No. 418. The Force Incident Manager (FIM) used the SARCALL system to request assistance from A&S SAR. The incident was a missing 58 year old male, who was insulin dependent, in the Somerton and Charleton Mackrell area of Somerset. The call out was made at 14.28 hours. The Search team was called out and an RV and control point was set up in the local school. The teams searched until 02.00 (07/12/12) when the search was temporarily suspended, due to darkness and fatigue amongst the search party members.

07/12/12 The search was resumed during the morning from the Charleton Makerell community sports hall. Due to limited search resources, Exmoor SAR team were called to assist with the search. Nothing was found and the team was formally stood down at 18.11 hrs.

28 ASC Log 730 The Force Incident Manager contacted the ASSAR Chief Rescue Officer at 19.20 concerning an elderly missing person in the Southmead area of Bristol. Weather conditions were poor elevating the level of concern for the individual. ASSAR was called out at 19.35 and tasked with searching several open spaces in the area including a golf course. ASSARs protracted overnight search was suspended while investigations by the police continued in the early hours of 3/12/12 and the team officially stood down at 11.30 that day after it was confirmed the missing person was found safe and well.

27 ASC Log 695 (24/11). A despondent male had been reported missing at 15:14 on 24/11. Evidence suggested he may be either in or near the King’s Sedgemoor Drain, Chedzoy, Bridgwater. At 10:07 on 25/11/12 the Force Incident Manager called out the team. The team deployed bank side search teams and searched the water from a specialist rescue boat. Nothing was found and the team was stood down at 16:30 hrs.

26 ASC Log 661 (24/11/12). After receiving regular updates during the early evening, another weather front brought high winds and further heavy rain to the region. The Chief Rescue Officer put all Swift-water Rescue Technician (SRT) personnel on ‘Stand By’ at about midnight. At 02:06 (25/11) the FIM requested assistance with possible water rescue and 4×4 vehicle back up. A team of 2 4×4 vehicles with SRT members, was dispatched to Cheddar Village where there was a very high possibility of inundation of about 300 homes as the river was close to bursting its banks. At the same time a request was made to dispatch 3 4×4 vehicles to RV at Taunton Police station to assist with the search for a missing male in Williton near Watchet. The youth was reported missing in flood water, after his friends had returned home and discovered he was missing. The youth was later found, safe and well and the team was stood down at 05:00.

25 ASC Log 1561. Due to approaching bad weather and storms, the Force Incident Manager (FIM) had been in regular contact with A&SSARs Chief Rescue Officer to keep the team in the picture of the developing weather system. At 19:27 the FIM advised the CRO to place the team on ‘Stand By’ pending further developments, due to wide spread heavy rain. At about 20:45 the FIM mobilised the CRO to Chew Stoke to investigate a report that a car had been washed away from the ford and had been seen floating away downstream. A major multi agency rescue attempt was made to find, and recover the driver of the vehicle. Other responding 4×4 units were directed to Keynsham Police Station, and await a more detailed operational brief. As the Chew Stoke incident was stood down the rain stopped and the floods locally began to recede. The team was stood down at about 00:30 on 23/11/12.

24 ASC Log No 0089. The police requested some help and advice regarding a very large rock that had descended from the top of Cheddar Gorge and landed in the road in the early hours of the morning. Nobody was known to have been hurt in the incident, but there were certain public safety issues that needed to be resolved. The A&SSAR Chief Rescue Officer assisted the police and the Cheddar Caves staff resolve these issues, and the incident was stood down. The team remained on a ‘listening’ brief – in case further difficulties arose.

23 ASC Log No. 750. The Force Incident Manager contacted the Chief Rescue Officer at 19:23 hrs. The request was for assistance to search for a despondent 42 year old female whose car had been found abandoned in woodland near Kilmersden near Frome in Somerset. The police were searching an area adjacent to the car using dogs and the Q99 helicopter. The local area had many areas of dense woodland and plantations, some of which contained small quarries and ponds. A&S SAR search teams were deployed into these areas of woodland because of their rugged terrain. The search areas were all completed by 03:00 hrs, so the teams were sent home for some well earned rest. The CRO spoke to the police again in the morning of 6/11/12, new evidence had come to light over night and the search was scaled down. The search teams were not recalled. The casualty was located by police, a few miles out of the immediate search area, safe and well. The team was stood down at 12:15 hrs.

22 ASC Log No. 809. The FIM contacted the team using SARCALL, the automated response system, at 17:28. The incident was a 14 year old boy, who had absconded from his school in Godney near Glastonbury. He was high risk and very vulnerable, and was last seen leaving the school by his teacher. The land around the school was low lying and still flooded after the recent heavy rain. The CRO set up an RV near the school and was briefed by the duty Inspector. A search plan was prepared, that involved containment by the police driving around all the local roads, whilst the SAR team would search the local countryside. The boy was located in a nearby village, by a police patrol, and found to be safe and well. The team was stood down at 18:45.

21 ASC Log No. 259. The CRO was contacted by the police POLSA for North Bristol at 09.05 hrs.  He was requesting assistance with the search for a missing 62 year old female, who suffered from dementia and memory loss. She had been reported missing on Saturday (22/09/12) morning by the staff at her residential home. Several sightings of the female had been reported, placing her in the general area of Winterbourne – North Bristol. The FIM requested the attendance of a Search Manager so that a search plan could be devised.  The team was put on ‘stand by’ to expect a ‘call out’ at 14:00.  The POLSA and Search Manager, worked together on preparing a plan that proved successful in locating the female in a field near Winterbourne. No medical assistance was required, so the team was stood down at 13:50

20 STANDBY At about 10:30 hours the CRO was notified by the Environment Agency, that the area of the River Severn around Tewkesbury (Gloucestershire) was on ‘red alert’ for immediate flood risk. A conversation with the ASC Force Incident Manager (FIM), about possible cross border operations. All necessary arrangements were made but the team was not called to assist the Gloucestershire Constabulary.

Later in the day at about 16:30 the FIM contacted the CRO again and asked for the team to be placed on ‘stand by’ for a possible major flood that could inundate parts of Weston-super-Mare. The CRO held discussions with the FIM and Duty Inspector at WSM every half an hour until 23;00 HRS. The team was eventually stood at 23:15, as the weather had improved sufficiently and the tide had turned thus reducing the risk of wide area flooding. The team was not required to assist on this occasion.

19 ASC Log No. 069. The CRO and Police FIM had a conversation at 07:30 about the rising flood risk that was becoming evident throughout the Force area. The team was put on ‘high alert’ for flood risk and a generic log number of 069 was issued. At 09:56 the CRO was contacted by the duty police team in Bath, and the duty Sergeant in Keynsham. Reports were coming in of the River Chew having burst it’s banks in the Chew Magna area. The team Swift-water Rescue Technicians and water rescue presence was requested, to attend, as two children and an infant were reported to be missing, and several people were reported to be stranded in flooded cars.

The water rescue team was responded and met the police on scene. Some of the team removed several people from stranded cars ‘en route’ to the incident, but the main incident was locating the missing children. The worst of the flooding was in Silver Street, which was inundated by flood water. The two missing children were located almost immediately, outside the school, and returned to a place of safety with their parents. The missing infant was located, stranded in the flood water. A rescue attempt was made, which resulted in a ’rescue swimmer’, entering a property, and removing the infant from the garden. The infant was returned to a place of safety, with her mother. The flood water began to recede and the incident was stood down at 12:00.

18 ASC Log No 1339. At 13.58 the Chief Rescue Officer was contacted by Avon & Somerset Constabulary concerning a missing 73 year old male in the Bath area, who had been reported missing the previous day. A&SSAR was called out at 14:38. Following searches of specific locations by the police A&SSAR was asked to search woodlands in the surrounding countryside. A&SSAR continued searching until 21:30 when the team was notified to stand down.