Water Training & Vehicle Recovery

Saturday 20th March 2021

After being stood-down from a call-out earlier in the morning, some of our Team members were out again two-hours later to take part in water training. It had been arranged partly as a follow-up to call-out 4/2021 in January, when the Team had been deployed to a vehicle that had been washed off the ford on the River Esk between Lealholm and Glaisdale during flooding.

As the vehicle was still in the river we accepted a request from the North York Moors National Park, in support of the Environment Agency, to provide water safety cover whilst it was removed. This was an opportunity for some of our Swift-water Rescue Technicians (SRTs) to practise their skills by setting up a ‘high-line’ allowing them to use a sled to attach a series of lifting strops to the vehicle. In turn the strops were connected to winches provided by a recovery vehicle (owned and operated by one of our Team members) and a local farmer’s machine.

The vehicle was eventually lifted and pulled onto the bankside and then towed to the roadside for removal via the National Park Authority.After that and using a similar process of strops and recovery vehicles, a tree that was partly blocking the river was also removed.

All in all, a very useful training session with the added benefit of the removal of a potential environmental hazard.

The seven SRTs were assisted by two water first responders with three other Team members in support.