Busiest ever year for Beer Coastguard Rescue Team

The team were tasked 119 times, with August the busiest month  with 15 taskings and May the quietest with just three. On 17 occasions they were called out between midnight and 7am – with some members having to work the following day.

The longest operation of the year lasted nine hours and 10 minutes.

The team helped search for missing people on 33 occasions, rescued or assisted people in the water 31 times and provided first aid to casualties 29 times. On most occasions they were part of a multi-agency operation: they worked with lifeboats on 50 rescues, with helicopters 28 times, with the police 64 times, with police and coastguard drone teams eight times, with the Hazardous Area Response Team 12 times, the ambulance service 41 times, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue 10 times and with Sidmouth beach lifeguards, Urban Search and Rescue and the Dartmoor Rescue group on many occasions.

Among the memorable call-outs were a vehicle swept off Sidmouth Esplanade during Storm Ciaran, a yacht aground at Lyme Regis and the rescue of a paraglider who crashed into the sea near Beer – he was unhurt.

The team were also called out on Christmas Day to a dog that became stranded on a cliff ledge near Lyme Regis.

Beer Coastguard Rescue said they would like to thank all the other emergency services they have worked with, ‘but a special mention to our flank teams of Exmouth and Lyme Regis Coastguard, our area management team, along with Exmouth, Sidmouth and Lyme lifeboats, The guys and girls at our Joint Rescue Co-Ordination Centre at Fareham, the Axe Yacht club and Harbourmaster for their help on numerous occasions, and members of the public who have assisted us during the year.”

The team have recruited new members who will be with them in time for the summer season.