West Cumbria Search and Rescue was established 8 years ago.  The team are a specialist search and rescue asset to help blue light agencies and relieve suffering and distress in the local communities. 
 
They support the local emergency services by providing a search and rescue service for those in need in Cumbria or other out of area requests if requested. West Cumbria SAR are tasked by agencies and provide specialist water & flood rescue along with search capabilities.

 

The services we provide include rescue 3 trained officers for water rescue and flood operation’s, specialist drone search, L&MPS search technicians for land search, specialist water drone search capability, and animal rescue. The team are all volunteers providing a service 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year. Alongside operational deployment the team also provide safety talks to schools.

 

The team are also a part of NILA (National Independent Lifeboat Association). Being apart of the NILA helps them create opportunities for collaboration, education and training, and to support organisational development.

 

The team also provides event cover for both medical and water safety cover this has seen the organisation providing services to various festivals, local council events Whitehaven alive and many more. Recently the team purchased the new aqua eye sonar device for water search operations.

 

This was achieved with fantastic grant funding from Cumbria community foundation. The team are always achieving new skills to support their local communities and blue light services.

The team train regularly to keep their skill set high and are often seen training with partner agencies, Maryport rescue, Cumbria Police and HM Coastguard.

 

The organisation is always looking at recruiting new volunteers, if you would like to give something back to the community and do something new and rewarding then make sure to contact their recruiting team.