Incident 14. The Team was called at 16:58 to assist with a search for a high-risk 72 year-old male missing in the Brentor area. 31 members turned out to search in steadily worsening weather through very muddy and slippery terrain, managed from our new Control Vehicle, which performed very well on its first outing. The highest priority areas were cleared quickly and the search widened to include other likely spots fitting the subject’s profile. Heavy snowfall on top of already slippery mud were making conditions treacherous, and poor visibility and darkness were making searching ineffective. It was agreed that searching in daytime would be better and allow time to gather more information and the search was suspended at 2300 hours.
15. Thurs 28-03-24
We were called at 0825 to resume the search in the Brentor area in daylight. Some more information about the missing person’s walking habits was also obtained. 12 team members were joined by colleagues from DSRT(Plymouth), USAR, the Police Force Support Group, and another aerial search by NPAS. It was too windy for more drone use, with winds gusting gale force, plus heavy rain, hail and thunder throughout the day. We were glad of refreshments kindly provided by the Rapid Relief Team. Apart from a search dog team, DSRT(Tavistock) stood down at 1650 and handed over to DSRT(Plymouth).
We learned shortly afterwards that the missing person was now confirmed to have left the search area, and the remaining assets stood down at 1730.
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