A man who had climbed some 70ft up a cliff at Stair Hole in Lulworth and had become stuck, triggered a large-scale emergency response.
Lulworth Coastguard was paged at 2.15 pm on Saturday 7th November 2020, along with Kimmeridge Coastguard.
The caller had initially requested the fire rescue service, so crews from both Wareham and Poole fire stations also arrived on the scene.
After a quick assessment of the incident, Lulworth Coastguard requested immediate support from a rescue helicopter.
Stuck in a loose and precarious position high above the beach
The man had climbed up from the beach at the western side of Stair Hole. He had stopped when he couldn’t climb any further, becoming stuck in a loose and precarious position high above the beach.
Coastguard rescue helicopter 187 based at St Athan in South Wales was training over Barnstable in North Devon and was sent to help.
While the aircraft was on its way, the fire and rescue teams set up a rope at the top of Stair Hole but due to the extremely inaccessible location of the man, the attempt was unsuccessful. However the coastguard rescue helicopter arrived shortly afterwards.
“A little cold and visibly shocked”
Lulworth Coastguard reported:
“The helicopter managed to carefully manoeuvre their winchman to firstly traverse and then come from below the casualty, securing him in a harness. The pair were flown a short distance to a safe location, where the winchman/paramedic then assessed the man for injuries.
“Thankfully, other than being a little cold and visibly shocked, the man was none the worse off for his ordeal. Rescue 187 landed on the green at Lulworth Cove, retrieved their winchman and then returned to South Wales.
“After a debrief, the teams returned to their respective stations. A great example of multiple teams working together for a positive outcome.”
“Help emergency services by giving these types of activities a miss”
Wareham Fire Station said:
“Luckily they were rescued without injury but with emergency services already under pressure, these types of multi agency incidents take up a lot of resources. Please take care during lockdown and help emergency services by giving these types of activities a miss.”
