This evening, the volunteers of Skerries Coast Guard took part in routine Search and Rescue training at Red Island, Skerries. This centered on the scenario of the team being tasked to assist a person in difficulty in the water. The exercise was based at the Springers public bathing area on Red Island. Upon arriving at the scene, the volunteers’ immediate task was to locate the person in the water and to recover them from the water using a rescue throwline.

SCG volunteers performing CPR on resus training dummy

Once the casualty was successfully assisted to the shoreline, the exercise scenario then progressed to the casualty suddenly developing cardiac arrest. The Skerries Coast Guard volunteers immediately began Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). CPR is an important first aid skill used to keep a casualty’s vital organs alive immediately after a heart attack or another event, such as drowning, that can cause a person to stop breathing. The volunteers maintained constant CPR for over 20 minutes, the average expected time for additional medical resources to arrive on scene.

The training was both very realistic and beneficial for all the Coast Guard team members involved. Skerries Coast Guard would like to thank the members of the public who were in the Red Island area during the exercise for their cooperation.

home

At daybreak this morning, the members of Skerries Coast Guard took part in operations training with the Dublin Coast Guard helicopter, EI-RCG. The landing site selected was at Red Island, Skerries. Local Gardai also took part in the exercise.

More photos are available in our photo gallery

The Skerries Coast Guard team were at Ardgillan Park, Balbriggan today for intensive land search training.

The day kicked off with an early morning woodland search. This was centered on the scenario of a person reported missing in the area since the previous night. Weather conditions at the scene were challenging, bitterly cold sub zero conditions prevailed, with freezing fog hampering visibility. This proved a useful test of the team’s personal all weather kit.

The first search was successfully completed. The casualty was located, treated and evacuated from the scene.

The second phase of the search training involved a mixed grassland and marsh search for a number of objects including discarded pyrotechnics and an EPIRB.

Overall, the training day was a great success for the Skerries team and provided a useful opportunity to test out our response to real life search and rescue situations.

Skerries Coast Guard wish to thank the staff of Ardgillan Park for the use of the ground for this training.

home