Shortly after 18:00 this evening the Irish Coast Guard launched a major rescue operation for an injured child near Balbriggan harbour. A 12 year old male had reportedly fallen from cliffs near the harbour area, known locally as “the Bower”.

The casualty was treated at the base of the cliffs by Fire Brigade personnel. Given the difficult terrain, the Coast Guard deemed it necessary to evacuate the casualty by helicopter winch. The Skerries Coast Guard team together with Fire Brigade and ambulance personnel assisted with the highline winching. As a precaution, the Skerries lifeboat was requested to standby in the area.

Once safely winched from the scene, the casualty was taken by the Coast Guard helicopter to Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda. His injuries are not thought to be life threatening.

The Coast Guard would remind members of the public to take extreme care when on or near cliffs, especially in low light conditions.

Incident #5 of 2010

This evening at 20:18, the Skerries Coast Guard team were tasked to investigate reports of a distress flare fired in the skies over the Balbriggan coast.  A 999 caller had reported to the Coast Guard’s rescue coordination centre that the flare may have been fired from the area near Balbriggan harbour.

Members of the Skerries Coast Guard team were at the harbour area within minutes of the tasking and commenced a search of the coastline. However, nothing unusual was found and the team were later stood down.

Incident #4 of 2010

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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.

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Skerries Coast Guard team members undertook a practical Triage training exercise on Loughshinny Beach earlier this evening. All members were briefed on Triage principles beforehand. This involves a process in which a group of casualties is sorted and prioritised relative to their need for care. The nature of the illness, or injury, the severity of the problem and the facilities available, govern the process thus allowing a an unthinkable situation more manageable.

Incident #3 of 2010

At 13:00 today, the volunteers of Skerries Coast Guard were tasked to investigate public reports of a large partially submerged object drifting in the water off Red Island. The Coast Guard were concerned from the public reports that the object may pose a hazard to boats in the area. The Skerries team were on scene at Red Island within minutes and began a search of the area.

After observing the area and speaking to the initial callers at the scene the Skerries team were satisfied that the object did not pose a danger. No further action was required.

Incident #2 of 2010 

At 19:12 this evening, the volunteers of Skerries Coast Guard were tasked to investigate several reports of flares in the area of Laytown and Gormonston.  Concerned members of the public had contacted the Coast Guard’s response centre to report sighting the distress flares in the area.

Despite the icy conditions, the Skerries team arrived on scene within minutes and began a search of the area. Visibility was excellent and nothing unusual was located, the team determined that the source of the flares may have been inland. No further action was required and the team were stood down.

Incident # 1 of 2010

Skerries Coast Guard undertook routine night search and rescue training at the Red Island and harbour area in  Skerries this evening. This training centred around the scenario of a person reported missing and last seen in the area. The team successfully located the casualty and evacuated from the scene.

This morning, the volunteers of Skerries Coast Guard undertook routine rescue training at the South Strand, Skerries. This involved the scenario of the Coast Guard search team locating a casualty at the foot of cliffs. A second rescue team at the top of the cliff were required to set up an equipment support link to transfer additional specialised medical and rescue equipment to the team on the shore.

Weather conditions on scene were difficult with strong winds making for a challenging but realistic exercise. The training scenario was successfully completed by the Skerries team.

At 9:15 this morning the volunteers of Skerries Coast Guard were tasked to investigate reports of a grounded boat at Skerries. A concerned member of the public had contacted the Coast Guard’s rescue control centre to report that the twenty foot open boat was aground on rocks at Colt Island. Colt Island is a small uninhabited island lying approximately half a mile from the Skerries shoreline. There was concern that someone may have fallen overboard from the boat earlier in the morning.

The Skerries Coast Guard team were dispatched to the scene within minutes of the tasking and observed the boat from the nearby Red Island headland at Skerries. These observations confirmed that the boat was not drifting but did appear to be partially submerged. As a precaution, Skerries Coast Guard requested the launch of the Skerries lifeboat to retrieve the boat for further examination.

The lifeboat successfully towed the boat back to Skerries harbour where it was more closely examined by the Coast Guard team. From this examinaiton, the Coast Guard concluded that the boat had simply drifted from moorings and that no further action was required.

Incident # 20 of 2009