Calder Valley team helps rescue injured woman near Hebden Bridge

An injured woman was hauled up a steep slope and carried almost a mile after volunteers and emergency services came to her aid.
Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team shared this image of its volunteers working alongside emergency services at the scene.Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team shared this image of its volunteers working alongside emergency services at the scene.
Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team shared this image of its volunteers working alongside emergency services at the scene.

Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team (CVSRT) was first alerted at around 9.45pm on Friday when Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) asked for help in finding the woman.

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It was reported that she had suffered an injury and was now stranded on steep ground in Colden Clough, near Hebden Bridge.

Fifteen CVSRT members - all unpaid volunteers - were available to respond immediately, setting out for the scene in team vehicles or heading their directly to begin the search.

In its report of the incident, the organisation said: "On arrival at the scene CVSRT members joined West Yorkshire Police officers in undertaking a rapid path search for the casualty, which, assisted by the National Police Air Service, was successful within 18 minutes.

"The casualty was then assessed by CVSRT members and YAS Hazardous Area Response Team Paramedics.

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"Following on-scene treatment the casualty was packaged and placed on a stretcher which had been lowered down the steep slope using a rope rescue system established by all agencies present – at this point it had become a full multi-agency response with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service also in attendance.

"The rope rescue system was then used to haul the stretcher up a steep slope to safe ground above and carried 1.5 kilometres to a YAS ambulance crew waiting at the nearest road head."

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The team's volunteers then returned to the rescue post to sort, wash and repack kit, before heading back home at 2.45am.

CVSRT is a registered charity that provides a, life-saving emergency service to the people of the Calder Valley and beyond.

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It attends an average of 65 or more call-outs each year and is staffed entirely by more than 50 unpaid volunteers.

It costs around £35,000 a year to keep the team operational, all of which is raised through donations.