Volunteers put their lives on the line
Ally McGilvray • Published 18 Apr 2010 14:08
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THEY put their lives on the line to save others; and could be considered the region's fourth emergency service. However, they have just experienced one of their busiest weeks of the year.
In the first four months of 2010, The Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team, which is made up entirely of volunteers, has answered almost as many calls as they would expect to in an average year.
And, this week, they revealed details of some of their daring rescues.
The charity, which is based in Selkirk, works closely with the emergency services to assist people - and occasionally animals - who are lost, missing or injured in remote and rural areas.
Last month, they braved atrocious weather to rescue 30 motorists stranded overnight in snow drifts across the Borders and take them to safety.
They also helped restore the water supply to thousands of homes in the area by transporting Scottish Water engineers to pumping stations at Silverburn and Carlops after snow brought down power lines.
It mirrored the massive operation earlier this year to re-connect communities cut-off by the snow during the big freeze and avert a potential tragedy.
And, in the past week, the Team have been involved in the search for missing people as far apart as the Borders and West Lothian.
TVMRT spokesman Jeff Douce told the Border Telegraph: "With the return of the wintry weather and heavy snow we have been kept busy.
"Over the last couple of years we have probably averaged about 30 to 40 call outs a year. But with two periods of quite severe weather, we have probably already had around 30 call outs this year.
"Some of them are short lived and others, if it is a search for a missing person for example, can go on for days at a time."
And he added: "Some of our searches end in tragedy but we can take a great satisfaction when we find someone alive."
From nurses, to opticians, paramedics to firefighters, the trained volunteers - who give their time freely - remain on call 24 hours a day, 365 day a year. Below is a report of their activities in the past week alone.
For more information or to find out how you can support Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team please log onto www.tweedvalleymrt.org.uk
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