A charity dedicated to searching for and rescuing missing people in Dorset has had a huge boost.

Dorset Search and Rescue has recently completed two massive projects, and in doing so has improved its capabilities in responding to missing person incidents, which will have a positive impact on the wider Dorset community.

The charity has not only replaced its ageing control vehicle with a newer alternative, but has also added a brand-new water response vehicle to the list.

A spokesman for Dorset Search and Rescue said: "The charity's, now retired, control vehicle has been the busy hub of missing person search operations for the last decade, but its best days are behind it and an upgrade was due.

"Normally, such large projects would rely on winning grants, but as the charity knew a replacement would be needed one day funds were set aside using regular donations.

"This means that the control vehicle project has largely been funded by the generosity of the Dorset community via charity pots, collection buckets at events such as the Dorset County Show, direct donation or other fundraising efforts."

You can find out more about the control vehicle project here.

Dorset Search and Rescue's second vehicle is dedicated to its water team, who specialise in searching for missing people that may be in or around inland water, such as rivers, lakes and ponds.

The spokesman added: "Until recently, lifesaving equipment was divided between vehicles or in storage, which significantly hampered response times.

"With the introduction of a brand-new Ford Transit double crew-cab van, the team is able to securely transport equipment and personnel quickly to a missing person incident involving water.

"In addition to this, the new vehicle means that the team has cleared a significant hurdle in becoming a DEFRA registered flood rescue asset that will allow them to respond to flooding incidents in Dorset and nationally if called upon."

You can find out more about the water response unit project here.

About Dorset Search and Rescue

Dorset Search and Rescue is a charity staffed entirely by volunteers and respond to search for high risk missing vulnerable people in Dorset.

They are tasked by, and work closely with, Dorset Police to provide specialist search resources, including land search, water search, bike search and search management.

All operational members are trained, to a minimum, in search skills, emergency first aid, navigation, radio communications, and are regularly assessed for fitness.

Dorset Search and Rescue is made up of 80 operational volunteers, three trainee search technicians and 18 support members who assist with non-operational tasks.

In 2019, Dorset Search and Rescue responded to 50 callouts in Dorset and have so far responded to 46 callouts in 2020, bringing its total number of callouts since is formation in 2004 to 426.

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