We have been awarded a commendation by South Yorkshire Police to acknowledge the teams role in rescuing a lost walker in blizzard conditions on the evening of the 8th of November 2016.
The walker who was rescued also joined the team to describe the turn of events from their side, sharing that as a regular walker to the Langsett area to find themselves suddenly lost in worsening weather conditions as the day light was starting to fade and visibility was becoming poor due to fast falling snow. Unsure of what to do the walker phoned his son to ask for advice of which the response was to call 999 who were then able to alert Mountain Rescue and initiate a hasty search party straight away with high confidence of location due to the high level of local knowledge of the area in the team. The walker who had now been exposed to the elements for several hours was now extremely cold on the snowy dark moorland patiently waiting for the team to locate him and was now unable to stand so huddled by a rock. He started to see torch light in the distance getting nearer. “The magic moment was when I heard a guy say ‘we’ve found him’. I knew that I was safe then”. The mountain rescue team members provided shelter, gave warm drinks, food and huddled close with blankets to help provide warmth to help the walker who was by this time suffering with hypothermia. It became apparent that the walker was too weak to walk back to the road on foot and so the rescue team carried him by stretcher for over 2km in yet worsening conditions where now there was several inches of snow hiding the groughs and path edges to the waiting team landrover which then transferred to the waiting road ambulance for transfer to hospital. ‘Without you I wouldn’t be here today’.
Supt McCurry added: “Last year alone the team members dedicated over 2,000 hours of their time to callouts from police, which amounted to 37 callouts in total.
“Their efforts are truly amazing and have saved the lives of countless people. We are incredibly grateful to be able to call upon them and I’m proud to have presented them with this well-deserved commendation.”
SYP ACC Barber address the team to present the team with the commendation thanking us for all the help we offer SYP and the value that we add to the local community.