Kippford RNLI Undertakes Joint Training Exercise
The volunteer crew at Kippford RNLI took part in a joint training exercise on Saturday 25th May. They were joined by volunteers from Portling Coastguard and paramedics from Scottish Ambulance Service.
The crews assembled at Kippford Lifeboat Station and were given a tasking request to search for an injured person located somewhere on the coastal path between Rockcliffe and Sandyhills. Each group conducted their own planning and crew briefing before heading out on the exercise.
The lifeboat crew launched in their D class lifeboat Ronnie Sinclair and made best speed to the search area. Meanwhile the coastguard team set off to their planned rendezvous point and commenced their search on foot. Radio communications were maintained throughout the search operation from land and sea.
The lifeboat crew located the casualty in an inlet. We were lucky to have the services of a volunteer casualty who had been made up with fake injuries and briefed on the scenario allowing the crew to implement their casualty care training in a realistic way.
Co-ordinating with the coastguard team and then the paramedics allowed for everyone to practice multi agency working on a casualty with a variety of complex injuries. Good use was made of all first aid equipment and the patient was treated and made ready for onwards transport to the ambulance.
Due to the nature of the location evacuation by lifeboat was required. For safety reasons this was carried out with our rescue dummy. The dummy was secured to a stretcher and transported by lifeboat back to Kippford where a handover was given to the ambulance team with the assistance of the coastguard for transport.
The exercise was followed by a BBQ in the lifeboat station garden a chance to discuss the learnings from the training. Everyone agreed that it had been a very useful session and they’d enjoyed the chance to work with other agencies in a very realistic way.
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Laura Wilson, Lifeboat Press Officer, 07756 125917, [email protected]
Natasha Bennett, RNLI Regional Communications Manager for Scotland, 07826 900639, [email protected]
Tom McGuire, RNLI Regional Communications Manager for Scotland and Ireland, 00353 87 476 4436, [email protected]
Martin Macnamara, RNLI Regional Communications Lead for Scotland, 07920 365929, [email protected]
RNLI Press Office, 01202 336789
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The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 142,700 lives.
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