What We Do

Introduction

The coastline of the United Kingdom is remarkable in its length, its accessibility and its varied geography and habitats. The entire UK coastline measures around 11,000 miles, much longer than many other European countries, primarily of course because the UK is an island.
HM Coastguard responds to Search and Rescue (SAR) incidents that occur within the UK SAR region. This region covers some 1.25 million square nautical miles of sea.

It is an on-call emergency organisation responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of all civilian maritime SAR within the UK Maritime Search and Rescue Region. This includes the mobilisation, organisation and tasking of adequate resources to respond to persons either in distress at sea, or to persons at risk of injury or death on the cliffs or shoreline of the United Kingdom.
The 19 Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres (MRCCs) around the UK Coast form a network of command and control centres for responding to reports of maritime and coastal distress. MRCC watch-keeping staff provides a 24-hour service to mariners and coast users in receiving incoming distress calls, alerting the appropriate rescue assets, and co-ordinating the rescue effort. A corps of over 3100 volunteer Coastguards around the UK coast form over 400 local Coastguard Rescue Teams (CRT) who give up their time to aid others in distress, involved in coastal rescue, searches and surveillance.

		The Coastguard Rescue Service is a voluntary organisation managed, trained and equipped by HM Coastguard. to proceed to any coastal SAR incident that may arise. Coastguard Rescue teams are located at strategic locations around the the coast. These are equipped to deal with incidents and rescues appropriate to the risks associated with local coastal terrain and local shoreline activities and conditions. The Beer Coastguard Rescue Officers, are all volunteers who live and work in the area, there are on call 24/7 we will respond to any incident, reported on the Cliffs, Coast-path’s and beaches of the UK. We have 2 initial response teams in the area, which can react to an incident within minutes. If the incident needs more manpower than he rest of the team will respond as well. You will see on the team page we have 16 dedicated members and if that’s not enough we can call on Lyme Regis or Exmouth coastguard teams for back up. The majority have “day jobs” and it is only with their Employers agreement that they can drop everything and go at a moment’s notice, if the incident requires it. So a big thank you to our employers Openreach, ( part of BT) P R Driver welding and fabrication, East Devon District Council, Devon County Council, The Anchor Hotel, Pecorama, ICT, Kingsmead Consultancy, Gosling dingy craft, Dave the plumber, Heltor Oil and The Fountain Head inn. A few of the team are self-employed so it’s not only time they are giving up.

	Operational Tasks we are likely to deal with
	Cliff Rescue
	Although the dangers of getting too close to the edge of a cliff might seem obvious, Coastguard Rescue Teams are nevertheless regularly summoned to the aid of persons and animals that have fallen and are often severely injured. Cliff teams are trained and equipped to extricate the casualty as safely as possible for medical treatment. Sadly the cliff teams' role also includes the recovery of those who have not survived their fall.

	Mud Rescue
	The perils of soft mud and quicksand around the UK coast may be less obvious to the unwary, but can be just as deadly. Local Coastguard Rescue Teams have specialised equipment and training for freeing casualties and bringing them safely to firm ground.

	Search
	There are many reasons why people get lost, injured or are late arriving at their destination. This often means a search is required to try and locate them. Day or night we are equipped to search, locate, treat, and get them back to safety. We often assist the police to search for missing persons.

	Explosives & Chemicals
	Flares, chemical drums or old ammunition often wash ashore or are exposed after a storm. We locate and try to identify what it is without putting our selves at risk, often working with the bomb disposal group or Fire Service, who have the equipment to deal with such items and its safe disposal..

	Distress Flares
	Any sightings of distress flares, are investigated we interview the person who has reported the sighting, to get as much information as possible, so a sea search can be planned for lifeboats and helicopters if required.

	Pollution
	Pollution reports are investigated and samples taken for analysis by either the local council or the counter pollution group. If the pollution covers a substantial area we can arrange for dispersants to be used. We had a few reports of pollution in 2007 ( MSC Napoli)

	Safety Advice
	We are tasked to speak to members of the public who’s actions are endangering themselves or other beach/ sea goers, Most times the advice appreciated, but on the odd occasion the advice is ignored and that can then involve the police.

	Cliff Falls
	The cliffs are unstable and rock falls happen regularly in this area, they fall without warning and for the unwary walking below them it could mean injury or death. Each cliff fall has to be checked for many reasons, persons could be buried, the coast-path may have gone from the cliff top, there may be more falls imminent and the beach may need to be closed, or there may be people cut off by the fall.

	Emergency Response
	We work with other emergency services on numerous occasions, RNLI, Sidmouth lifeboat, Police, Fire Service, USAR ( urban search & rescue) West country ambulance, Dartmoor rescue, Devon cave rescue, Dorsar (Dorset search & rescue), St Johns Ambulance. As well as the other Coastguard resources available, The Coastguard Helicopter, ETV (emergency towing vessel) Tugs, anti pollution aircraft and Coastguard patrol vessels.

	MSC NAPOLI
	January 2007. The grounding and aftermath of the 62000 tonne container vessel. As you are all aware it was a worldwide news story, it was the biggest and most demanding job that we are likely to deal with. We were there when she was grounded, we were there to see the first container come ashore and from that Saturday night along with Exmouth, Lyme & West bay teams, were there 24/7 for the next 10 days. .

	Prevention
	Prevention is better than cure they say, we attend events around the area speaking to the maritime community and visitors to the area, handing out leaflets and advice. We speak to schools, play groups, Scouts, Guides, dive clubs, fisherman and any group that want us to come along and give a talk..

	2011
	In 2011 we dealt with .. 4 Succesful Cliff rescues of persons stuck on cliffs. 5 Animal rescues 6 incidents involving medivac by Helicopter We were tasked to Search for missing or overdue persons 14 times. 1 Person Cut-off by a rising tide 13 vessels were reported in difficulty and required Coastguard and lifeboat assistance 4 Reports of pollution Red flare reports were again only 2 this year Safety advice or warnings were given on 2 occasions to people for their own good. We were required to man the radio site 9 times and set up a landing site for helicopters on 2 additional occasions. We assisted 49 people in total and dealt with 2 Fatalities. A quiet year compard to recent years, what will 2012 an Olympic year hold, visitor numbers are expected to rise dramatically in this area during and after the Olympic sailing at Weymouth. As none of the team have qualified to compete in the olympics we should be at full strength. :)