Rescue – Broughton Plantation (Clay Bank)

SATURDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2024 (2117 HOURS)

Five call-outs so far this month and our second Saturday night in a row.

We received a request from North Yorkshire Police to support them in the Clay Bank area following reports of ‘calls for help’ having been heard in nearby woodland. We dispatched a Land Rover with four Team Members on board in order to liaise with Police at the scene, whilst the rest of the Team were put on standby. A National Police Air Service helicopter was also involved.

After arriving at the RV-point and receiving an update from the Police there, we were just about to call out the Full Team to search for the man when he was located via a Police drone, in woodland at Broughton Plantation, to the west of Clay Bank. It later transpired that he had been walking in the area and had become disorientated and unable to continue he had resorted to shouting for help – the Police had been alerted by someone in the area who fortunately had heard him shouting.

We were asked to use our Land Rover to extract him from the woodland but owing to the ground conditions, the going was difficult with snow chains even being used at one point to cope with the muddy tracks. Eventually the crew had to continue on foot for about 500-metres to meet up with the Police and the casualty. He was assessed but other than being very wet and extremely cold (it was below freezing up there) he had only suffered some minor grazes. After being warmed up in one of our casualty bags and monitored for a while he was then well enough to be walked to the Land Rover (by that time the Team had managed to get it closer). Then he was driven to Clay Bank carpark where our volunteer members stayed with him until he was later collected by family members.

The Land Rover crew were then able return to Base and everyone else was stood-down for the night. The incident lasted 4-hours – not counting the cleaning time for the Land Rover & equipment plus four pairs of boots and clothing in the morning!

Excellent work by the NYP officers at the scene in locating the casualty by drone and getting to him quickly. Given the conditions the outcome could have been very different if he had not been found.