Photo courtesy of the RNLI
chris tracey RNLI
Chris Tracey RNLI
Flood Relief Work
Chris Tracey, a helm on the Dart lifeboat, has recently applied and been appointed to join the RNLI international Flood Rescue team - a specialist team of staff and volunteers on call, who are trained for flood relief work.
They are ready to respond within 24 hours notice to flooding emergencies anywhere in the world. All Flood Rescue Team (FRT) members, and other lifeboat crew, undergo swift-water rescue training, which prepares them for the complex behaviour of floodwaters and rivers.
Each flood rescue team has to be inshore lifeboat trained, as D class lifeboats (such as Spirit of the Dart) are generally used in relief efforts due to their agility, their shallow draught, and their ability to be deflated, transported and then re-inflated.
Each team must have a variety of skills such as HGV driver, forklift driver, linguist and a paramedic or doctor to tend sick or injured casualties. Chris, who at one time operated a rib hire business in Dartmouth, has expertise in the launch and recovery and transport of small vessels.
The FRT was formed in 2000 and consists of 60 volunteers divided into three teams, which rotate their state of readiness. The RNLI Flood Rescue Team forms the core of the RNLI’s National Flood Response, with another 240 specially trained volunteers available from lifeboat stations to support them, including Chris Tracey and crew member Yorkie Lomas of Dart lifeboat.
Since 2000 the Flood Rescue Team has rescued people from West Sussex to Gloucestershire; Guyana to Morpeth. Over the course of 24 hours in Cumbria, November 2009, RNLI crews working alongside teams from the Fire and Rescue service, Mountain Rescue and other volunteers, evacuated approximately 200 people trapped in their homes.
The expertise, professionalism and organisation the RNLI team brought to the situation was widely recognised.
Chris Tracey says “I was extremely pleased and excited to be chosen for the International Flood Response team and look forward to the training process and getting to know my newly extended RNLI family.
I have taken part in one scenario based weekend so far and got to work with my new team, made up of crew from all over the country. Various scenarios were played out and working within this new team seemed no different than working with my station crew.
It goes to show the universal bond between lifeboat men and women throughout the UK and Ireland. The weekend was a great success and the training aspect was second to none.”
Rob Clements, Dart lifeboat Operations Manager said: ‘Flood rescue is a natural progression for the RNLI. Saving lives at sea, on estuaries or rivers has always been our aim. Such activity though requires specialized knowledge and I am delighted that two persons of Dart lifeboat are trained and available to respond.”
First Published March 2011 By The Dart