Bay Search and Rescue trains Dublin Civil Defence in the use of Hagglund
ATERV's (All Terrain Emergency Rescue Vehicles)
Gary Parsons, Station Officer and Paul Calland, Deputy Station Officer of Bay Search and Rescue based at Flookburgh and Milnthorpe, have recently spent a a few days in Dublin, Ireland, at the invitation of Acting Chief Civil Defence Officer John Moriarty. The Cumbrian team was contacted by Dublin Civil Defence who have been operating a Hagglund for Flood and Snow Rescue operations, after they read about them on the internet and found out the Bay Search and Rescue now appears to be one of the most experienced teams around operating these vehicles. More specifically
Dublin Civil Defence were keen to find out first hand how Hagglunds can be used in live flood rescue operations, something Bay SAR has experience of after working in Cockermouth during the 2009 floods on behalf of Cumbria Fire and Rescue, who they work in partnership with.
Dublin Civil Defence was started in 1950 to provide civil resiliencesupport during the cold war, but unlike in England where the Civil Defence was disbanded in the 60's, in Ireland it continued to play an important role in any areas where it could support the statutory services such as an auxiliary fire brigade, ambulance service, welfare, public event support and specialist vehicles to handle extreme weather situations such as snow and flood. There are approximately 6000 volunteers across Ireland, with 300 based in Dublin, which is split into four city areas. They operate
numerous vehicles from ambulances, 4x4's fire appliances and welfare trucks, through to rescue boats, which in Dublin operate in and around the Harbour.
In the case of flood and extreme weather assistance it had become obvious to them in their investigations that Bay SAR offers a similar service in North Lancs and the Lakes, and with over 10 years experience with some very unique equipment they asked if Bay SAR would be prepared to train Dublin Civil Defence volunteers how to operate and maintain their Hagglunds - as their first one was about to be joined by a second one, with more potentially in the pipeline. Consequently Gary and Paul visited them at their Dublin City centre HQ and undertook an intensive initial presentation to approximately 20 members of their team, which included the history of Bay SAR and its experiences, plus how and why it evolved into using its current kit line up, followed by the specifications, operation, abilities, initial driver checks and maintenance of these unique ex-military go anywhere vehicles. The Dublin team were then given a detailed overview and inspection of their own vehicles, the second machine having only arrived the previous night. This one unsurprisingly was in
100% operational state having just been refurbished for them, their existing vehicle proved to be due for some important maintenance, as both Gary and Paul who had inspected it independently with a group each, both found the same issue which if left unattended would have the potential to cause a significant problem. As Bay SAR handles its own maintenance, and has even designed and made its own specialist tools for working on the 40 road wheels and tracks that a Hagglund drives on, this is all in a days work, and a second set of tools will be made by them for the Dublin team
as part of an ongoing 'experience sharing ' partnership.
The conclusion of the first training session is that Dublin Civil Defence will be sending a team over to Cumbria to be given advanced driving experience on and around the very unique terrain of Morecambe Bay and the Lakes, and Bay SAR will be sending a larger team back over to Dublin to provide driver and maintenance training, and share some the Dublin teams experiences in the very deep snows experienced in Ireland in December and January. Both teams are now also possibly looking to link up with another Rescue team that operates Hagglunds which has extensive experience in a
snow and ice environments, to share skills with.
Bay Search and Rescue Website
Civil Defence Website
