Need Our Assistance

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What you should do if you need Mountain Rescue.

In the unfortunate event that you require the assistance of Galloway Mountain Rescue:

• Dial 999 or 112
• Ask the operator for the Police
• Tell them that you require Mountain Rescue

You will be asked for the following information:

• The location you are calling from.
• The exact location of the incident (a six figure OS grid reference and/or a named feature).
• What colour clothing are they wearing.
• The number of casualties.
• What do you suspect is wrong.
• Is the casualty’s physical condition deteriorating?
• What equipment do you and the casualty have with you?
• Your contact telephone number.

REMEMBER: Wait to be contacted at that number by the rescue co-ordinator.

What happens next?

In response to your 999 call, the Police Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway Division) Control Room will contact our Team Leader or one of our other search managers by telephone. The search manager will advise which is the most appropriate Search and Rescue (SAR) asset to use and when.

Options which will be considered:

• Call out the full team.
• Request assistance from the Search and Rescue Dogs Association (SARDA).
• Request assistance of a SAR helicopter – generally from HM Coastguard at Prestwick.
• Request water based rescue craft from the our water rescue group, or the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, RNLI or others.
• Or any combination of the above.

If the decision is to call out the team...

The Team Leader initiates a full team call-out using a priority text based system called SARcall. A text message is instantly sent to every team member giving brief details of the incident and the location of the rendezvous point. Available team members respond to this message with a short text message code that confirms their estimated time of arrival (ETA) at either our rescue base or the rendezvous point.