Ireland call for mountain team

Weather conditions can change rapidly on the Brecon Beacons

A Brecon Beacons mountain rescue team is extending its services to southern Ireland after finding it could get there as quickly as Irish teams.

In an exercise, the Central Beacons team reached the Monavullagh Mountains in County Waterford in eight hours.

It takes as long to scramble rescuers from north west Ireland.

The voluntary rescue team, based at Merthyr Tydfil, will now be on call for real emergencies.

The team deals with 50 serious incidents in Wales alone each year and is used to handling emergencies.

Peter Howells, the team leader of the Central Beacons rescue team, said a team, usually of three vehicles each with four or five people in, would only attend a major incident in Ireland, not a routine mountain rescue/search.

Weather conditions can change rapidly on the Brecon Beacons

"For a response from Ireland, we would expect to have vehicles on the way to the ferry within two hours," he said.

"For a response in the Brecon Beacons, we would expect to have people through the door in less than 15 minutes."

Last weekend, they received a late-night call to take part in an exercise in the Monavullagh Mountains near Rathgormuck.

The team sent 11 rescuers in three emergency vehicles via the Fishguard-Rosslare ferry from Pembrokeshire.

They were given priority disembarkation, which meant they could be at the scene in less than eight hours.

It takes as long for a rescue team from north west Ireland to reach the same destination.

The Irish authorities praised their speed and asked them to help out in real-life situations in the future.

The exercise involved 200 volunteers rescuing 18 young 'casualties' from the mountains.