White parachute flares were deployed from the high cliffs overlooking the bay, proving very effective at illuminating large sections of the shoreline. Overall, the exercise was very useful with all the search teams successfully and quickly locating their missing person “targets”.

Skerries Coast Guard – a voluntary rescue unit of the Irish Coast Guard.

Remember – if you spot someone in difficulty, even if you only think someone could be in difficulty, dial 999 or 112 and ask for the COAST GUARD. Your call could save their life.

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From early morning, the Skerries Coast Guard team took part in a large scale land search exercise at Ardgillan Castle, Balbriggan. The day was divided into two principal training events: the first a challenging initial response land search for a missing person; the second, a wide ranging orienteering course.

The land search kicked off with a initial brief on a recently reported missing person. As the search was centred on the initial response phase, techniques such as purposeful wandering proved very effective as the teams tackled the dense forest area.

The second phase of the exercise focused on challenging the team’s orienteering skills, taking them through a series of compass and bearing scenarios. This brought them across the many acres of open parkland, overlooking Barnageera Bay and Skerries harbour in the distance.

Overall, the training day was a great success and also proved a useful opportunity for the passing members of public to find out more about their local coast guard.

More photos are available in our online photo gallery

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This morning, the Skerries Coast Guard team conducted a coastal rescue exercise near Loughshinny harbour, 5 miles South of Skerries. This centered on the scenario of the Skerries team tasked to search for a person who had failed to return home from a planned walk of the area.

After a briefing on scene, two search teams were dispatched to search both the pier and the beach area. As the search progressed southwards, the teams successfully located the casualty. The exercise then focused on the team assessing the casualty’s injuries and administering first aid, while awaiting the arrival of additional resources.

For this scenario, the teams were presented with the scenario of the casualty having fallen from the cliff top to the beach below. While the casualty was conscious with minor fractures, their suspected spinal injuries required full spinal immobilisation and evacuation to be effected.

The exercise was repeated, with the casualty having suffered varying degrees of injuries.

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This evening, the Skerries Coast Guard team conducted a joint training exercise with the crew of Skerries RNLI. The exercise centred on the scenario of a stretchered casualty requiring evacuation by lifeboat from a remote shoreline.

The Coast Guard team provided the lifeboat crew with the location lat & long coordinates by vhf radio. The lifeboat then made its way from the Skerries boathouse to the scene.

The Exercise took place at the idyllic Barnageera Bay, 2 miles North of Skerries harbour. Weather conditions on scene were very favourable.

This provided both teams with a useful opportunity to test out casualty assessment, care, and handover procedures.

Overall, the Skerries Coast Guard team found this to be an extremely worthwhile exercise. More photos are available in our photo gallery.

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This morning, the volunteers of Skerries Coast Guard took part in a large scale search and rescue training exercise at Barnageera Beach. This beach is located two miles north of Skerries and with its varied terrain is an excellent location for such training.

The exercise was centered on the scenario of two paragliders colliding in mid air over the cliffs, while one paraglider lands safely on the clifftop, the second falls from view towards the beach. The Skerries team were tasked to search for this casualty, provide appropriate medical treatment and evacuate from the scene.

Once the casualty was successfully located and initial treatment provided, the Skerries team began the evacuation. As this scenario involved suspected spinal injuries, full spinal immobilisation of the casualty was undertaken. 

This realistic training exercise was very benefical for the Skerries team. Unfortunately, cliff falls are becoming an increasingly common rescue incident that the Skerries team are tasked to in their response area.

More photos are available in the photo gallery.

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