Dartmouth Coast Guard Rescue Team Reports Sharp Increase in Calls in 2021

The Dartmouth Coast Guard Rescue Team shared a New Years message illustrating the sharp increase in calls they saw in 2021.

In one message to facebook, published on Friday, December 31, the team reported 45 tasks, up from 26 the previous year.

The post also shed light on when the team had been busiest (August) and quiet (during the months of March, April and September).

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It went on to recount some of the Team of the Year’s most memorable jobs, including when in February they had to assist police and other services in Exeter when a WWII bomb was discovered, making national headlines.

Another was the sightings of flares on a bonfire night – something the team says is commonplace year after year.

The full post read: “2021 has been another good year for the Dartmouth Coast Guard.

“We had 45 tasks (EDIT – I read 44 but we have been paginated since!). This is an increase from 26 tasks last year.

“2021 began with our first mission on January 7 to help locate possible distress calls in the Dittisham Creek area.

“March, April and September were our quietest months with one task, with August being the busiest with seven in total.

“Our L & MPS (Lost And Missing Person Search) training has now given us a recognized level. work area including Dartmoor, Plymouth, many in Torbay, Newton Abbot and Teignmouth.

“We have also had a few members who have moved and many have joined us.

“We have appointed a new assistant station officer, two rescue officers have been appointed as rope rescue technicians and two new CROs have been appointed as the officer in charge, who can lead a task and take charge of the task. whole scene.

“One of our most memorable and once in a lifetime jobs was helping police and other agencies in Exeter when a massive WWII bomb was discovered, making national headlines all over the world. the Southwest be enlisted to assist with exclusion zone staffing, building evacuations and other logistical tasks.

“Another task that comes to my mind, as we seem to have them every year, is sighting flares on bonfire night. This has had many reports, including one from a local fisherman. who was adamant that it was not fireworks but a flare. We and the lifeboat searched for many hours and was convinced that no one was in distress. That is not to say that reports didn’t see a flare, it might well have been sent from someone’s backyard as a way to use them on bonfire night, and I imagine they didn’t realize the time that was taken with that.

“Attached is a heat map image of most of our tasks. I had to zoom out much further this time, clearly showing the vast area we covered this year, spanning a huge 727,422 acres!

“We’ll all be celebrating New Years Eve with our families, but pagers in the back pocket, ready to go as always, with all the other teams around the coast.

“This is 2022, let’s hope it’s the right one.

“Dartmouth Coast Guard 08.”

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