Published at 11:29, Monday, 12 April 2010

Leisure time reliance on volunteer rescuers is fast becoming a double edged sword.

Cumbria’s mountain rescue teams are rightly regarded as heroes by locals and visitors alike. Always dependable in a crisis, they’re a lifeline when things go frighteningly wrong on fells and mountains.

But they’re being stretched to the limit by unequipped walkers who don’t follow basic safety advice.

This weekend they have again been pushed to the brink by recklessness.

The Keswick team was called out three times on Saturday as tourists headed up mountains in glorious spring weather, disregarding obvious likelihood that early April sunshine will have a challenging sting in its tail.

Cumbria’s volunteers clocked up 26,868 hours last year, after being called out 700 times to accidents and injuries.

But the number of unnecessary calls for help rose significantly and hard-pushed rescue teams say some accidents on the fells could have been prevented had walkers and climbers followed basic advice.

The Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association is urging people to call only in genuine an emergency and warns teams could be forced to prioritise calls for help if man hours continue to rise.

The service of brave volunteers is a Cumbrian jewel of which the county is justly proud. But it was never intended to be a substitute for commonsense self-help or personal responsibility.

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk